New Delhi: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir ruled on 25 April that the “no work, no pay” principle cannot be applied when an employer prevents an employee from working and orders the release of withheld wages for J&K Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation employees.
The corporation had appealed the writ court’s decision, which held that it had to pay its workers’ salaries for the contested period and any related benefits within eight weeks of the judgment being served on the appellant.
The appellant-corporation has challenged the decision, arguing that it is established law that no one can be compensated for time spent away from work without permission or explanation and that the Writ Court’s conclusion that the “no work, no pay” principle does not apply in this particular case because the respondents/employees were prevented from working for no fault of their own is not legally sound.
The employees’ attorney contended that the respondents only accepted the voluntary retirement offer because of the appellants’ false promise, and that the appellants’ failure to keep their word compelled the respondents to file the writ petition.
The respondent-workers’ counsel also argued that the appellant-Corporation was the only reason they were still out of service, therefore, the corporation could not claim that the employees did not do any job, especially since the appellant-corporation’s operations had ceased.
According to the record, the appellant-corporation brought the respondent workers back into service on 13 April 2015, and the Writ Court noted that the employees were requested to return to work and rejoin the Corporation.
“Much of the controversy is therefore resolved. The only issue unresolved is as regards entitlement of the respondents to salary/wages for the intervening period, i.e. the period for which the respondents remained out of service”, the Division Bench of Justice Rajnesh Oswal and Justice Mohammad Yousuf Wani said while upholding the Writ Court judgment.
The Division Bench noted that the “no work, no pay” principle can be applied when an employee is still unemployed due to their actions, inactions or faults; however, the principle cannot be used to deny an employee their salary when an employer’s actions or inactions prevent them from working.
“We have examined the judgment passed by the Writ Court, and the Writ Court has concluded that the respondents were kept away from work by the authorities after accepting their offer of voluntary retirement and, as such, they are entitled to salary for the intervening period. There is no illegality in the judgment passed by the writ court”, DB said.
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