'Laws defining job safety and pay equity soon' 

'Laws defining job safety and pay equity soon' 

Pune: The Ministry of Labour and Employment is in the process of introducing laws about occupational safety and pay equity. Soon the Central government will introduce laws defining these two factors, stated Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Gangwar. 

He was in Pune to launch the first-of-its-kind online course on Prevention of Sexual Harassment - Law and Beyond, designed by Maharashtra State Commission of Women (MSCW) and Shyamchi Aai Foundation (SAF) Academy. 

MSCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar, Pune MP Girish Bapat and other dignitaries were present at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Sanskrutik Bhavan on Wednesday. 

“The next law will be on occupational safety, which will define work security and fixed working hours,” announced Gangwar. 

He said the government is in process to bring pay equity law for men and women at workplace. “There will be no gender discrimination in terms of pay scale and working hours. This code will soon come out,” Gangwar said. 

Maternity Benefit Act 
Gangwar said the recent Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 increased the maternity leave period from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. The act makes crèche facilities mandatory for any organisation with 50 or more employees, even if there is only one woman in the organisation. 

“These developments have been made keeping in mind the growing number of women in professional and educational sector. It is necessary to take steps towards supporting working women and required provisions should be formulated. Otherwise, we will face several problems in future,” said Gangwar. 

He said the ministry is working on passing four labour codes out of which the first one was passed recently, the Code On Wages bill, 2019. The code has been signed by the President, he added. 

Age restriction 
He said that another law amended by the ministry specifies that children up to 14 years of age will not be allowed to work. Children in the age group of 14 years to 18 years can work as per their physical ability but are restricted from working in hazardous situations. 

“Many households conduct business at home and children are made to work on that level. This has been restricted under this act. The children should not do any physically straining work and only focus on education,” said Gangwar. 


Training programmes 
The MSCW has conducted training programmes with vice-chancellors of 11 state universities covering over 3,000 colleges in the State and 20,000 internal complaint committees of companies in the State. “However, this facility will allow people to avail the course at one click from anywhere in the State. The commission will provide a certificate after completing the course,” said Vijaya Rahatkar. 

Rahatkar said several companies are still not following the Vishaka Guidelines which mandates setting up of ICC at the workplace. She demanded the minister take cognisance of such companies and insist on every company to implement it thoroughly, without any delay.
 

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