NEW DELHI: Payment of Gratuity Amendment Bill 2017 is likely to be passed in the forthcoming Budget session, which will make formal sector workers eligible for tax free Rs 20 lakh gratuity.
At present formal sector workers with five or more years of service are eligible for Rs 10 lakh tax free gratuity after leaving job or at time of superannuation.
"The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill,
2017 will be passed in the Budget session of Parliament, expected to
begin by the end of this month," a source said.
The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in
winter session of Parliament last month. Once the bill is passed by
Parliament, the government will not be required to go to it again for
deciding the quantum of tax free gratuity.
The bill seeks to allow the government to
notify the period of maternity leave and gratuity that can be availed by
employees under a central law.
The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017
was introduced by labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar in the Lok
Sabha on December 18, 2017.
The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, was enacted
to provide for gratuity payment to employees engaged in factories,
mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, shops or other
establishments.
The law is applicable to employees, who have
completed at least five years of continuous service in an establishment
that has ten or more persons.
The amendment will also allow the central
government to notify the maternity leave period for "female employees as
deemed to be in continuous service in place of existing twelve weeks".
The proposal comes against the backdrop of the
Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 enhancing the maximum maternity
leave period to 26 weeks.
With respect to gratuity, the amount is
calculated on the basis of a formula which is 15 days of wages for each
year of completed services, subject to the ceiling of Rs 10 lakh. This
limit was fixed in 2010.
Source: The Economic Times
No comments:
Post a Comment