Rajasthan High Court Rules That Daily-Wage Workers’ Wages Must Be Calculated For 30 Days Instead Of 26 Days

 

The Rajasthan High Court recently addressed an appeal involving the method of calculating minimum wages for daily-wage labourers in the context of a compensation claim before an Accident Claims Tribunal. The bench, led by Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand, rejected the long-standing practice of calculating monthly wages on the basis of 26 working days — a norm followed in government notifications and circulars — and held that in the case of daily-wage workers, wages should be calculated on a 30-day basis. The Tribunal had awarded compensation after determining the wage of the injured claimant based on 26 days per month, premised on the assumption that daily-wage workers would necessarily take at least one weekly rest day and thus be paid for only 26 working days in a month. The Court, however, underscored the ground realities of such workers, observing that daily-wage earners typically do not receive paid weekly offs or leave under existing labour laws and, due to their precarious economic condition, cannot afford to take unpaid rest days without suffering financial hardship. Consequently, the Court held that it was inappropriate to presume that daily-wage labourers remained on leave every week for one day. The bench stressed that nearly all such workers work every available day of the month, earning income day-to-day without entitlement to paid holidays, and that employing a 26-day calculation basis unjustly reduces their compensation entitlements. In light of this, the Court agreed with the appellant’s argument that the minimum wage calculation for a daily-wage worker should be based on 30 days in a month rather than 26, aligning the wage assessment more closely with the worker’s actual earning conditions.

The appeal arose when the claimant contested his categorisation as an unskilled labourer and the subsequent calculation of his wages on a 26-day basis for the purpose of determining compensation for a permanent disability suffered in a 2020 motor accident. While the Court upheld the classification of the labourer as unskilled, it accepted the argument regarding wage computation. It observed that although labour laws mandate at least one weekly off, the practical situation for daily-wage workers involves no paid rest days. The Court said that such workers, who often survive on meagre daily earnings, do not have the luxury of taking unpaid weekly holidays because doing so would deprive them of essential income. The bench highlighted that, by any reasonable interpretation, it could not be assumed that daily-wage labourers would take unpaid leave each week, and hence the general presumption should be that they worked every day of the month.

In holding that the compensation award should be enhanced, the Court directed that the wage calculation for such workers be based on 30 days, not 26, resulting in a greater compensation amount. In the case before it, the Court enhanced the compensation amount accordingly. It further directed that a copy of its order be sent to the relevant departments at both the Union and State levels so that appropriate corrective steps may be taken to amend the government notifications or circulars dealing with the minimum wage calculation for daily-wage workers. The Court’s ruling reflects an acknowledgement of the financial distress faced by daily-wage workers and calls for the legal and administrative framework to be adjusted to better reflect their actual working and earning conditions.

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