Wages Boards (Amendment) Act 2019

This Act may be cited as the Wages Boards

(Amendment) Act, No. 14 of 2019.

Section 4 of the Wages Boards Ordinance

(Chapter 136) (hereinafter referred to as the “principal enactment”) is hereby amended as follows:—

by the repeal of subsection (1) of that section and the substitution therefor of the following:—

in subsection (2A) of that section—

Section 41 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in subsection (2) thereof by the substitution for the words “four years commencing” of the words “six years commencing”.

Section 44 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the repeal of subsections (1) and (2) of that section and the substitution therefor of the following:—

“(1) Every employer who fails to pay wages to any worker in accordance with the provisions of section 21, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine not less than five thousand rupees and not exceeding ten thousand rupees or to imprisonment of either description of a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment, and shall in addition, be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred rupees for each day on which the offence is continued after conviction.

Every employer, other than an employer referred to in subsection (1), who fails to make to any worker, any payment in accordance with any provision of this

Section 46 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in subseciton (1) of that section by the substitution for the words “during the four years”, of the words “during the six years”.

Section 48 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in subseciton (1) of that section by the substitution for the words “to a fine not exceeding five hundred rupees”, of the words “to a fine not exceeding five thousand rupees”.

Section 50 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in subseciton (1) of that section by the substitution for the words “not exceeding two hundred rupees” and the words “not exceeding three months”, of the words “not less than five thousand rupees” and the words “not exceeding twelve months” respectively.

Section 51 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the substitution for the words “not exceeding two hundred rupees” and the words “not exceeding three months” of the words “not less than five thousand rupees”

and the words “not exceeding twelve months” respectively.

Section 56 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in paragraph (c) of that section by the substitution for the words “within four years” of the words “within six years”.

Section 58 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in the succeeding paragraph to paragraph (g) of that section by the substitution for the words “not exceeding one thousand rupees” and the words “not exceeding six months” of the words “not less than twenty thousand rupees”

and the words “not exceeding twelve months” respectively.

Section 59A of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following section substituted therefor:—

59A. (1) Where any person enters into a contract or work arrangement expressed or implied, for trade or commercial purposes, with any other person who employs workers to perform work on a regular basis which is an integral part of the business activities of the first-mentioned person, and such person employs workers pursuant to the said contract or work arrangement, such contract or work arrangement shall be deemed to amount to a disguised employment relationship.

“Special provisions applicable where persons are employed to do work under any arrangement made by way of trade or any commercial purpose.

Where the Commissioner is of opinion, after due inquiries, that such contract or work arrangement is in fact a disguised employment relationship, he shall in writing direct the first-mentioned person referred to in subsection (1)

A person who has been aggrieved by a directive made in respect of him under subsection (2) shall have a right to appeal to the Special Employment Relations Tribunal established under section 59B of this Act within thirty days of the making of such directive.

The following new sections are hereby inserted immediately after section 59A of the principal enactment and shall have effect as sections 59B, 59C, and 59D of that enactment:—

59B. (1) There shall be established a Special

Employment Relations Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the “Tribunal”) for the determination of appeals made to the Tribunal by any aggrieved person in terms of subsection (3) of section 59A.

The Tribunal shall consist of three members to be appointed by the Minister. The three members shall be persons who have a wide knowledge and experience in the field of labour laws and one of whom shall be a retired

A member of the Tribunal shall hold office for a period of three years and shall be eligible for reappointment.

Any member may at any time resign his office by a letter to that effect addressed to the

Where any member vacates office by resignation, removal, death or of his inability to hold office on account of ill health or absence from Sri Lanka or any other cause, the Minister may appoint another person in his place in terms of subsection (2) and the person so appointed may hold office for the unexpired period of term of office of the member whom he succeeds.

The Minister may remove any member of the Tribunal for reasons assigned.

There shall be a Secretary to the Tribunal appointed by the Commissioner who shall maintain records of the Tribunal and attend to any such other work assigned to him by the

The Commissioner may appoint such officers and servants as are necessary to facilitate the functions of the Tribunal.

The members of the Tribunal may be paid such remuneration as the Minister may determine in consultation with the Minister in charge of the subject of Finance.

The Commissioner shall upon receipt of the decision of the Tribunal, cause the same to be published in the Gazette.

The decision shall be effective as between the parties with effect from the date of publication in the Gazette or from such date as may be specified therein.

In the event of any inconsistency between the

Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.

Power of

Commissioner to institute action.