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What is the minimum wage rate?

Last updated on Jun 21, 2022

Employers must pay every employee at least the minimum rate of wages fixed and notified by the concerned Government1, which will fix a minimum wage rate for:

  • Time work (wage rate can be fixed on an hourly, daily or monthly basis).
  • Piece work (for employees engaged in piece work, the Government can fix a minimum wage rate on a time work basis).

If an employee does two or more types of work having different minimum rates of wages, the employer will pay them the appropriate minimum wages for the time spent in each class of work2. For example, consider that the minimum wage for one type of work is Rupees twenty per hour, and Rupees ten per hour for the other type. If the employee spends 2 hours on each type, they will get (20*2) + (10*2) = ₹60 for 4 hours3.
The concerned Government will review or revise the minimum wage rate usually every five years4.

  1. Section 5, Code on Wages, 2019.[↩]
  2. Section 11, Code on Wages, 2019.[↩]
  3. Section 11, The Code on Wages, 2019.[↩]
  4. Section 8, Code on Wages, 2019.[↩]

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