Compliance Requirements

1. Revised Minimum Wages – Scheduled Employments

Notification No. 29/DL dated September 14, 2022; Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Section 5(1)(b) read with Sections 26(2), 26(2A) and 27

The notification classifies workers under scheduled employments into four categories — Unskilled, Semi-skilled, Skilled, and Highly Skilled — and revises the applicable daily minimum wage rates as follows. The revised rates are inclusive of Dearness Allowance but exclusive of any other concessions enjoyed by employees.

2. Classification of Worker Categories

The notification defines the four wage categories and sets out an illustrative (non-exhaustive) list of occupations under each: Unskilled work covering roles such as watchmen, peons, safai karamcharis, cleaners, helpers, and field or dairy attendants; Semi-skilled work covering roles such as assistant fitters, black/gold/welders’ assistants, store keepers, machine operators, and tailors; Skilled work covering roles such as electricians, masons, carpenters, cooks, quality controllers, and computer operators; and Highly Skilled work covering roles such as heavy-vehicle and specialised equipment operators, and ITI/Diploma-qualified plumbers, welders, foremen, electricians, and draughtsmen. Each category also carries a residual clause admitting “any other category by whatever name called” that is of the corresponding skill nature, and a formal definition of each skill level for the purpose of classifying work not expressly listed. Disputes over the correct classification of a particular work are to be referred to the Labour Department, Government of Sikkim, whose decision is final.

[The full illustrative occupation lists run to several dozen entries per category and are set out in full in the notification; only representative examples are reproduced here.]

3. Altitude-Based Wage Enhancement

Given Sikkim’s terrain, the notification prescribes a graded wage enhancement linked to the altitude at which the work is performed, over and above the base rate applicable to the worker’s skill category:

4. General Conditions Applicable to the Revised Rates

The following conditions apply uniformly to all categories of workers covered by the notification:

• • The revised rates are inclusive of Dearness Allowance but exclusive of any other concessions enjoyed by the employee.
  • A worker who works without absence for six consecutive days in a week is entitled to one paid holiday, on either Sunday or another designated haat day.
  • No worker shall be required to work more than nine hours in a day, inclusive of a one-hour break.
  • Work beyond 8 hours in a day, or beyond 48 hours in a week, is payable as overtime at twice the ordinary rate of wages.
  • Questions on whether particular work falls under the Highly Skilled, Skilled, Semi-skilled, or Unskilled category are to be referred to the Labour Department, Government of Sikkim, whose decision is final.
  • The revised rates are effective from July 11, 2022.