Regularised daily wage workers won't get promotion

The State government has notified the final Karnataka Daily Wage Employees Welfare Rules sticking to its provision made in the draft rules that daily wage employees who have been regularised will not be eligible for promotion for the rest of their service.

The government had published the draft rules in November last pertaining to the leave, pension and gratuity benefits for 23,000 daily wage employees who have been brought under the ambit of a legislation to provide them with better benefits and wages in 2013. The Department of Administrative and Personnel Reforms (DPAR) notified the final rules just before the model code of conduct came into force for the Lok Sabha polls.

The proposal in the draft rules which states that daily wage employees will not be eligible for promotion for the rest of their service has been retained. In other words, all the 23,000 employees will remain in the same cadre they find themselves today till they retire.

The Karnataka Daily Wage Employees’ Welfare Bill, 2012, was passed during the winter session of the State Legislature in Belgaum in December 2012 and had received the assent of the Governor in February 2013.

The legislation provided for better welfare of daily wage employees working for more than ten years in government establishments and to give them minimum security of tenure, better wages and social security on retirement. The Act provided that the pay of a daily wage employee will be the minimum of the time scales.

As per the final rules notified, the New Pension Scheme (NPS) Swavalamban Yojana administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority will be applicable to daily wage employees. The gratuity benefit on retirement has been fixed for a maximum of 12 months’ pay.

Sources in DPAR said that while daily wage employees would get better emoluments, they were not considered for promotion as technically they were not regular government employees.