Contract workers may get gratuity before completing five years of service

Workers on a fixed-term contract might soon be eligible for gratuity before completing five years of service, if the government’s proposal for this in the Code on Social Security Bill, 2019, is accepted. The Bill was circulated for public consultation last week.

Currently, workers are not entitled to gratuity before completing five years of continuous service, according to the provisions of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The law does not make any discrimination between casual, contractual, temporary or permanent workers who have completed five years of continuous service.

Under the new Bill, the government proposes “fixed-term employment” as a category of