The Gujarat Payment of Unemployment Allowance to Workmen In Factories Act, 1981

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GOVERNMENT OF GUJARAT

LEGISLATIVE AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT

Gujarat Act No. 20 of 1981

The Gujarat Payment of Unemployment
Allowance to Workmen In Factories
Act, 1981

(As modified upto 31st October, 2012)

[ 1981: Guj. 20 Gujarat Payment of Unemployment
Allowance to Workmen In Factories Act, 1981

THE GUJARAT PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE TO
WORKMEN IN FACTORIES ACT, 1981.

CONTENTS.

PREAMBLE.

SECTIONS.

1. Short title, extent and commencement.

2. Definitions.

3. Payment of unemployment allowance.

4. Workmen not entitled to unemployment allowance in certain cases.

5. Recovery of money due from employer.

6. Penalty.

7. Cognizance of offence.

8. Offences by companies.

9. Power of Government to make rules.

1981: Guj. 20 ] Gujarat Payment of Unemployment
Allowance to Workmen In Factories Act, 1981
3 of 6
GUJARAT ACT NO. 20 OF 1981.1 
[THE GUJARAT PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE TO
WORKMEN IN FACTORIES ACT, 1981.]
[28TH MAY, 1981]

An Act to provide for payment of unemployment allowance to certain workmen
in factories who are rendered unemployed on account of failure, refusal
or inability of an employer to provide employment due to shortage of
power and to provide for matters connected therewith.

It is hereby enacted in the Thirty -second Year of the Republic of India as
follows:-

1. (1) This Act may be called the Gujarat Payment of Unemployment Allowance
to Workmen in Factories Act, 1981.

(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Gujarat.

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

(a) "Badli Workman" means a workman who is provided with a Badli card
and who is employed in place of another workman who is temporarily absent
and whose name is borne on the muster roll of the factory;

(b) "enrolled workman" means a workman (whether Badli workman or
permanent or temporary workman) whose name is borne on the muster ro ll,
or as the case may be in Badli Register of a factory on the first day of a
specified period;

(c) "factory" means any premises including precincts thereof where ten or
more workers are working or were working on any day of the preceding
twelve months, and in any part of which a manufacturing process is being
carried on with the aid of power, or is ordinarily so carried on, but does not
include a factory in relation to industrial disputes concerning which the Cen -
tral Government is the appropriate Government under the Industrial Dis putes
Act, 1947;

(d) "Manager" mea ns the person who is for the time being managing the
factory, and includes any other officer duly authorised by the employer to act
as Manager, such authorisation being notified to the workmen by displaying it
on the notice board of the factory;

(e) "permanent workman" means a workman who has been employed on a
permanent basis or whose appointment has been confirmed in writing by the
Manager or by a person, duly authorised in this behalf by t he Manager, and
includes a workman who has completed a probationary period of three
months in the aggregate in the same or another occupation in the factory, and
an apprentice who is asked or appointed to work in a post or vacancy of a
permanent workman for the purposes of payment of wages to him du ring the
period he works on such post or in such vacancy;

(f) "specified period" means such period (including its extension) as the State
Government may for the whole State or any part thereof, from time to time by
notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf;

(g) "temporary workman" means a workman who has been appointed in a
factory for a limited period for work which is of an essentially temporary
nature or who is employed temporarily as an additional workman in
connection with temporary increase in work of a permanent nature;
Short title,
extent and
commencement.
Definitions.
14 of 1947.
[ 1981: Guj. 20 Gujarat Payment of Unemployment
Allowance to Workmen In Factories Act, 1981

(h) "unemployment allowance" means unemployment allowance payable
under section 3;

(i) the expression "workmen" and any other words or expressions used in this
Act but not defined therein shall have the same meanings respectively
assigned to them in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

3. (1) Where any employer fails, refuses or is unable to provide employment to
an enrolled workmen on any day during the specified period by reasons of,-

(a) reduction of not less than twenty five percent of the maximum de -
mand for electrical energy, or

(b) reduction of not less than fifteen per cent of the off -take of
electrical energy, or

(d) closure of a shift in factories, or

(e) restriction on hours of shifts in factories,

on account of any-

(i) restriction on consumption or use of, or

(ii) discontinuance of, or restriction on, or prohibition or
regulation of supply of,-

electrical energy under the Bombay Electricity (Special
Powers) Act, 1946, then notwithstanding anything contained
in any law for the time being in force, the employer shall,
subject to provisions of this Act, pay to such enrolled
workman an unemployment allowance at such rate per day
and for such number of days in each calendar month during
the specified period, as is provided in sub-sections (2) and (3).

(2) The rate of unemployment allowance payable shall be equal to 50 per cent
of the total of the ba sic wages and dearness allowance that would have been
payable to him per day had he been provided with employment during the
specified period.

(3) The number of days in each calendar month for which the unemploy ment
allowance shall be paid at the rate af oresaid shall be equal to the ave rage of
the total number of days in each month on which an enrolled workman has
actually worked during a period of one year immediately before the co -
mmencement of the specified period:

Provided that such number of days i n each calendar month shall not
exceed the number of days in that month on which he is not provided with
employment.

Explanation.-Where the interval between two or more periods is less
than one year, then for calculating the period of one year in relation to the last
of such specified periods for the purposes of this sub -section, the specified
period or periods immediately before such last specified period shall be
excluded.

(4) In computing the amount of unemployment allowance, the amount paya -
ble shall, where necessary, be rounded off to the nearest rupee, fractions of
fifty paise and over being counted as one, and less than fifty paise being
disregarded.
14 of 1947.
Payment of
unemployment
allowance.
63 of 1948.
Bom. XX of 1943.
1981: Guj. 20 ] Gujarat Payment of Unemployment
Allowance to Workmen In Factories Act, 1981
5 of 6

(5) Where an enrolled workman does not actually work for the full number of
hours on any day, then in counting the number of days on which he has
actually worked on such days, the number of hours during which such work
man has worked on each such day shall be added together to ascertain the
number of days.

4. No unemployment allowance shall be paid to any workman-

(a) if he is entitled to any lay -off compensation under the provisions of the
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ;

(b) if he refuses to accept any alternative employment in the same factory in
which he has been provided with is usual employment, or in any other factory
belonging to the same employer in the same town or village or situated within
a radius of 8 kilometers from the first mentioned factory and in the opinion of
the employer the work in such alternative employment does not require any
special skill or previous experience and can be done by the workmen :

Provided that the wages which would normally have been pa id to the
workmen are offered for the alternative employment also;

(c) if such workman is not provided employment on any day due to any strike
or slowing down of production on the part of the workmen in another part of
the factory.

5. (1) Where any money by way of unemployment allowance is due to a
workman from an employer under the provisions of this Act, the workman
himself or any other person authorised by him in writing in this behalf, or in
the case of the death of the workman, his assignee or heirs may, without
prejudice to any other mode of recovery, make an application to the State
Government or one or more officers authorised by it for any area or areas, for
the recovery of money due to him, and subject to t he provisions of sub -
section (2), if the State Government or the authorised officer is satisfied that
any money is so due, it or such authorised officer shall issue a certificate for
that amount to the Collector, who shall proceed to recover the same in th e
same manner as an arrear of land revenue :

Provided that every such application shall be made within one year
from the date on which the money became due to the workman from the
employer :

Provided further that any such application may be entertained a fter
the ex piry of the said period of one year, if the State Government or the
authorised officer is satisfied that the applicant had sufficient cause for not
making the application within the said period.

(2) No certificate under sub -section (1) shall be issued unless the employer
has been given an opportunity to show cause why he did not pay the un -
employment allowance to the workman in accordance with the provisions of
section 3, and evidence (if any) produced by him is duly considered, if
necessary, after giving him a hearing.

6. Any person who commits a breach of any of the provisions of this Act, shall, on
conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six
months, or with fine, or both, and where the breach is a continuing one, with a further
fine which may extend to two hundred rupees for every day during which the breach
continues after the conviction for the first time and the Court trying the offence, if it
fines the offender, may direct that the whole or any part of the fine realised from him
shall be paid by way of unemployment allowance to any person who in its opinion
has been injured by such breach.

Workmen not
entitled to
unemployment
allowance in
certain cases. 14 of 1947
Recovery of
money due
from
employer.
Penalty.
[ 1981: Guj. 20 Gujarat Payment of Unemployment
Allowance to Workmen In Factories Act, 1981

7. (1) No Court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act,
or of the abetment of any such offence, save on complaint made by or under
the authority of the State Government.

(2) No court inferior to that of a metropolitan Magistrate or a Magistrate of
the first class shall try any offence punishable under this Act.

8. (1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company, every
person who at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was
responsible to the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as
well as the company shall be de emed to be guilty of the offence and shall be
liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly :

Provided that nothing contained in this sub -section shall render any
such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act, if he proves that
the offence was committed without his knowledge, or that he exercised all
due deligence to prevent the commission of such offence.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub -section (1), where an offence
under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the
offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributa-
ble to, any neglect on the part of any director, manager, secretary or other
officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer
shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence, and shall be liable to be
proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Explanation.- For the purposes of this section-

(i) "company" means any body corporate, and includes a firm or other
association of individuals; and

(ii) "director" in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.

9. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make
rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(2) The power to make rules conferred by this section is subject to the condi -
tion of the rules being made after previous publication.

(3) All rules made under this section shall be laid for not less than thirty days
before the State Legislature as soon as pos sible after they are made, and shall
be subject to such modifications as the Legislature may make during the
session in which they are so laid, or the session immediately following.

(4) Any modifications so made by the State Legislature shall be published in
the Official Gazette and shall thereupon take effect.

----------------------------

1 For Statement of objects and Reasons, See Gujarat Government Gazette, Extraordinary, Part V,
dated the 24th March, 1981, page 23-7.
 This Act was assented to by the President on the 20th May, 1981.
Cognizance
of offence.
Offences by
companies.
Power of
Government to
make rules.

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