CHENNAI: The Madras High Court, in a significant order, has ruled that workmen, even when hired by contractors and falling under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act (CLRA), 1970, qualify as workers of a company under the Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments (Conferment of Permanent Status to Workmen) Act, 1981.
Justice Krishnan Ramasamy gave the ruling recently on a batch of petitions filed in 2013 by TAFE’s contract labourers — hired through contractors — and also by the contractors, over an order issued by the Labour Court in Tiruchy in 2012. “Of course, the petitioners, who had worked as contract labourers, are entitled to the benefits under the CLRA.
Merely because a person works under the CLRA, it would not disentitle them from availing of benefits under other labour legislations, viz the Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments (Conferment of Permanent Status to Workmen) Act, 1981,” the judge ruled.
The judge reasoned, as far as the other statutes are concerned, the definition of the word “workman/worker” includes a person who worked for hire. If a person performed any work with the company, either by virtue of direct or indirect hire, he/she would be considered as a worker of the company under the respective labour legislations, he stated.
The judge ordered TAFE and the contractors to jointly pay Rs 5 lakh each to the workmen, over and above the compensation, as ordered by the Labour Court within 12 weeks.
The petitioners, who were orally terminated after seven years, raised a dispute with the Labour Court, which set aside the termination and ordered a compensation, but refused to declare them as workers. Aggrieved, the parties concerned moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in 2013.