The legislation was necessitated in the wake of the 18th Amendment in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan under which 'Labour; has been devolved to the province and the province is required to provincialize and customise the laws. The bill after passage from the provincial legislature may be called the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Payment of Wages Act, 2012.
Under the legislation, every employer including a contractor, sub-contractor, headman, middleman or agent shall be responsible for the payment to persons employed by him of all wages required to be paid under this Act: provided that, in case of persons employed otherwise than by a contractor, sub-contractor, headman, middleman or agent, which is the Manager (factory), supervisor (industrial or commercial establishment) and nomination person in case of the employer person is railway administration shall be responsible for such payments.
Every person responsible for the payment of wages under the act shall fix periods, hereinafter referred to as wage-periods in respect of which such wages shall be payable. No wage-period shall exceed one month. The wages of every person employed upon or in- any railway, factory, industrial establishment or commercial establishment, as the case may be, upon or in which less than one thousand persons are employed, shall be paid before the expiry of seventh day after the last day of the wage period in respect of which the wages are payable; and any railway factor, industrial establishment or commercial establishment, as the case may be, shall be paid before the expiry of the tenth day, after the last day of the wage period in respect of which the wages are payable. Where the employment of any person is terminated by or on behalf of the employer, the wages earned by him shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day from the day on which is employed is terminated. The government may, by general or special order exempt, to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order, the person responsible for the payment of wages to persons employed upon any railway otherwise than in a factory, or industrial establishment or commercial establishment from the operation of this sector in respect of the wages any such person or class of such persons. All payments of wages shall be made on a working day.
All wages shall be paid to the employed persons in current currency through scheduled banks in prescribed manner. The wages of the employed person shall be paid to him without deduction of any kind except those authorised by or under this Act. Under this Act no fine shall be imposed on any employed person save in respect of such acts and omissions on his part as the employer, with the previous approval of Government or of the prescribed authority, may have specified by notice under sub-section(2).
A notice specifying such acts and omissions shall be exhibited in the prescribed manner on the premises in which the employment is carried on or in the case of persons employed upon a railway otherwise than in a factory or, industrial establishment or commercial establishment, at the prescribed place or places.
No fine shall be imposed on any employed person until he has been given an opportunity of showing cause against the acts or omissions or otherwise than in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed for the imposition of fines. A total amount of fine which may be imposed in any one wage-period on an employed person shall not exceed an amount equal to three per cent of the wages payable to him in respect of that wage-period. No fine imposed on an employed person shall be recovered from him after the expiry of sixty days from the day on which it was imposed. Every fine shall be deemed to have been imposed on the day of the act or omission in respect of which it was imposed.
All fines and all realisations thereof shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the person responsible for the payment of wages in such form as may be prescribed and all such realisations shall be applied only to such purposes beneficial to the persons employed in the factory, industrial establishment or commercial establishment as are approved by the prescribed authority notified by government.
Deductions for absence from duty may be made only on absence of an employed person from the place or places where, by the terms of his employment, he is required to work, such absence being for the whole or any part of the period during which he is required to work. The amount of such deduction shall in no case bear to the wages payable to the employed person in respect of these wage-periods for which the deduction is made a larger portion than the period for which he was absent bears to the total period, within such wage-periods, during which by the terms of his employment, he was required to work. Provided that, subject to any rules made in this behalf by government, if ten or more employed persons acting in concert absent themselves without due notice and without reasonable cause, such deduction from any such person may include such amount not exceeding his wages for eight days as may by such terms be due to the employer in lieu of due notice.
Any deduction under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 7 shall not exceed the amount of the damage or loss caused to the employer by the neglect or default of the employed person and shall not be made until the employed person has been given an opportunity of showing cause against the deduction, or otherwise than in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed for the making of such deduction. All such deductions and all realisations thereof shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the person responsible for the payment of wages under section 3 in such form as may be prescribed.
Deductions for services rendered under clause (d) or clause (e) of sub-section (2) of section 7 shall not be made from the wages of an employed person unless the house-accommodation, amenity or service has been not exceed an amount equivalent to the value of house-accommodation, amenity or service supplied and, in the case of a deduction under the said clause 9e0 shall be subject to such conditions as government may impose.
Deduction for recovery of advances shall be subject to recovery of an advance of money given before employment began shall be made from the first payment of wages in respect of complete wage-periods, but no recovery shall be made of such advances given for travelling-expenses; and recovery of advances of wages not already earned shall be subject to any rules made by government regulating the extent to which such advances may be given and the instalments by which they may be recovered.
Deductions for payments to co-operative societies and insurance schemes shall be subject to such conditions as government may impose. Under Section 14 of the Act the government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint inspectors for the purpose of this Act within such local limits as it may assign to them respectively
The government under the Act may appoint any Commissioner for workmen's compensation or other officer to be the authority to hear and decide for any specified area all claims arising out of less payments, deductions from the wages, non-payment of dues relating to provident fund or gratuity, bonus, overtime, leave encashment, notice pay or travelling allowance or any other emoluments payable under any law or delay in the payment of wages, of persons employed or paid in that area.