Latest news with #MinimumWageAct
The Hindu
03-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Over 350 temporary non-teaching staff at Bharathiar University left in the lurch without pay since start of 2025
Around 350 of the more than 600 non-teaching staff at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, who have been working on a temporary basis for several years, have complained that they have not received their monthly salaries since the beginning of 2025. The temporary staff were appointed under two categories: daily wage and consolidated pay. Those appointed under the daily wage system have remained in the job with a five-day break in service after 85 working days. For those under consolidated pay, the five-day break is enforced every six months. Their monthly salary ranges from ₹18,000 to ₹23,000. In the absence of a regular Vice-Chancellor, the re-appointment of non-teaching staff must be carried out by the Higher Education Secretary, in his capacity as the Convenor of the Vice-Chancellor Committee. The university is learnt to have told the affected non-teaching staff that their salaries will be credited once the files are approved by the Higher Education Secretary. The non-teaching staff comprising sweepers, drivers, office assistants, electricians, and gardeners staged a protest on Labour Day on May 1 to draw the Higher Education Department's attention to their plight. The delay in approval of the files is because the Higher Education Secretary has been pushed into an unenviable position of administering most of the State universities that are functioning without Vice-Chancellors, M. Ramesh Kumar, secretary of the Bharathiar Palkalaikazhagam Panialargal Nala Sangam said. 'The non-teaching staff who are not at fault have been subjected to a struggle for daily survival due to the withholding of salaries. Such a delay has not happened so far,' Mr. Ramesh lamented. It is a double whammy, as the non-teaching staff under the systems of daily wage and consolidated pay have not been granted the benefits of Employees State Insurance and Provident Fund. Also, since 2022-23, the payment for the staff under Minimum Wage Act specified by the District Collector has not been enforced. 'Our several representations to the Labour Welfare Department has remained unanswered,' Mr. Ramesh said. According to university sources, the Higher Education Department was constrained to scrutinise the eligibility of the non-teaching staff over the last couple of decades, in the backdrop of suggestions that pruning of the excess staff strength was required. Nevertheless, the question of denying salary did not arise. The files have been approved for disbursal of the pending salaries. The fund transaction has been cleared, the university source said.
Hans India
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Make progress using govt facilities: CM's advice to Pourakarmikas
Bengaluru: Pourakarmikas have currently been made permanent, and in the coming days, around 9000 vehicle drivers, helpers and operators will also be made permanent. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the government is committed to appointing those involved in sanitation work permanently. On Thursday, he participated in the Pourakarmika Day celebration and the distribution of appointment letters to Pourakarmikas organized by BBMP and addressed the program after distributing appointment letters to Pourakarmikas. 'When I was the Chief Minister earlier, I had noticed that Pourakarmikas were being exploited by contractors and were not being paid fair wages. Therefore, to help the exploited Pourakarmikas, I have made a system to make the minimum salary as per the Minimum Wage Act mandatory. The salary that was earlier being received was increased to Rs 7000 to Rs 17000 and a system was made to pay it directly to the bank account. In this way, Pourakarmikas were freed from the menace of middlemen', he said. When he was the leader of the opposition, he supported the long-standing demand of the Pourakarmikas for permanent appointments. If the then government did not fulfill the demand for permanent appointments, the promise made to fulfill this demand of the Pourakarmikas when the Congress government came to power has been fulfilled today. The Chief Minister explained that due to this, the salary of the 4th grade civil servant will be paid directly to their account at Rs 39,000. Mahatma Gandhiji had said that one should see divinity in cleanliness. Maintaining the cleanliness of the environment is a noble work. Basavanna said that work is Kailash, and he said that there is no superiority or inferiority in any work. Several welfare schemes have been launched for Pourakarmikas, including a plan to send 1000 Pourakarmikas abroad. The government aims to build an equal society by ensuring that Pourakarmikas and their families also enter the mainstream. All sections of the state should be provided with economic, social and educational equality. He requested everyone to stand in support of the government, which is working hard for the welfare of the Pourakarmikas. The children of Pourakarmikas should be educated and able to enter the mainstream of society. He said that the public should also voluntarily pay attention to the cleanliness of their environment.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tipsy Bean cafe owner accused of keeping servers' tips. What she said happened
The owner of Tipsy Bean Cafe, 2425 Peach St., was the subject of a firestorm of social media criticism Jan. 19 when it was claimed on that she was keeping electronic tips intended for servers. Owner Gisele Littrell got so much negative feedback that she produced a Facebook Live video explaining that she has been keeping server tips left electronically since 2022. She said in the video that she has used the funds to pay more than the prevailing wage. "Everything I did was in the best interest of my employees and in accordance with my understanding of the law," Littrell said Wednesday. "I pooled the electronic tips to pay higher, consistent wages, which my employees voted for, as opposed to lower base wages and splitting tips by shifts. I did not financially benefit from this policy." Customers who left electronic tips were not informed of the policy for the house to take the tips. In a post Jan. 20 on Facebook, which has since been deleted, Littrell apologized for misunderstanding the law and changing the job descriptions for servers that she said makes them tip-eligible and that she would pay employees electronic tips retroactively to August of 2022. "I am currently working with the state to review if our records complied with the law," Littrell said later. "I am working with an employment attorney and have gained a great deal more clarity in regards to wage and handbook policy guidelines. "I have a new tip pooling and wage policy, as well as, job titles and descriptions currently in place," she said. "I have made mistakes and am doing everything in my power to set things right." Tipsy Bean has won best coffee shop in a Best of Erie contest four times in a row, starting in 2021. It displays work for sale by local artists and hosts events including live music and speakers. The accusation that Littrell kept the tips surfaced on Reddit about three weeks ago, and hundreds of comments and accusations flew around for several days, making it onto the coffee shop's Facebook site, where they were soon deleted. With the intention of clarifying her position, Littrell live streamed a video on Facebook Live that was subsequently uploaded to YouTube. Littrell said in the video that she considered all Tipsy Bean employees to be "shift leaders," who, as managers, would not be eligible for tips of any kind. She allowed servers to keep the tips left in cash. Pennsylvania law states: "All tips and gratuities paid by credit card or other non-cash method of payment are the property of the employee receiving them. "Employers are prohibited from deducting any credit card or other payment processing fees from employees' tips." More: Erie's cup overflows with independent coffee shops. Find them here. When asked if Littrell broke the law, Danielle L. Woods, press secretary for the state's Department of Labor & Industry responded: "Neither the Wage Payment and Collection Law nor the Minimum Wage Act (both enforced by L&I) makes a distinction between electronic and cash tips for purposes of compliance," Woods wrote. "Tips, with very few exceptions, are considered to be the property of the employee. More information on Pennsylvania's regulations related to the minimum wage and tipped workers can be found" (on the website). Woods said if anyone had filed a complaint, she could not address it publicly. "Whether a complaint has been filed or an investigation has been commenced is confidential," Woods said. "Accordingly, the Department of Labor & Industry cannot offer comment." She said if a complaint were made and found to be true, and the state and owner came to an agreement, that would be public record. More: In what used to be bank drive-through lanes, there could soon be a tiny coffee shop "If a labor law violation is determined to have occurred, an administrative order or signed settlement agreement reflecting the violation and penalty would be publicly available," Woods said in an email Jan. 24. "At this time, L&I has not issued violations or entered into a signed settlement agreement with Tipsy Bean." She said employees who believe they were deprived of their tip income can file a confidential complaint, and the department takes those complaints seriously. "Any Pennsylvanian who believes they have experienced a violation of Pennsylvania's labor laws is encouraged to submit a complaint with the Department's Bureau of Labor Law Compliance online," she wrote. "The Department investigates all complaints." In a recent visit to the coffee shop, a reporter found the debit card machine did not offer a way to tip electronically as it did on previous visits. There was a mug for cash tips sitting on the counter near the point of sale. "We had to temporarily turn off tipping to transition to the new wage and tip policies," Littrell said. "The tipping option is currently active again." Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@ Find her weekly newsletter at This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Tipsy Bean cafe tip-collecting allegations addressed by owner
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Worker retraining, sick leave focus of new Washington laws
Feb. 4—OLYMPIA — Changes to Washington law will give more options to Washington employers looking to keep on workers who are recovering from temporary disabilities. Other changes will expand eligibility to use sick leave to take care of family members and increase the amount families can receive through a once-yearly financial emergency program. Jeff Mayor, communications consultant for the Washington Department of Labor & Industry, said the change to the sick leave law doesn't change the number of people receiving paid sick leave. "The key change expands the definition of 'family member' so that it includes more people," Mayor said via email. "The paid sick leave changes apply to all workers covered by the Minimum Wage Act." The definition of a family member was expanded to include "any individual who regularly resides in the employee's home or where the relationship creates an expectation that the employee care for that person, and that individual depends on the employee for care," according to SB 5793, which went into effect in January. The law also was changed to include people working for a "transportation network company" to earn paid sick time. "The paid sick time changes apply only to people who drive for rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber," Mayor said. "The law giving drivers certain worker rights and protections does not cover people who drive for companies such as DoorDash." Changes to the "Stay at Work" program will increase the amount employers can be reimbursed when they keep employees returning to work with temporary disabilities. The program allows employers to be reimbursed for up to 50% of the wages of an employee who is working a different job due to a workplace injury, according to the L&I website. The changes increased eligibility to a maximum of 120 days worked, up from 66 days worked. The maximum reimbursement allowed was increased to $25,000. The revised law also raised the reimbursement for tools and equipment needed for the temporary job, along with training and clothing for that job. The authors of SHB 2127 said one of the primary purposes of the law is to make it possible for injured workers to get back to work. To help with that, funding was added to help returning workers with permanent disabilities develop some basic skills. The skills covered include high school equivalency or GED classes, computer literacy, English language classes, tutoring and other training workers might need. Legislators increased the amount of money available for families through the "Diversion Cash Assistance Program," which is designed for families that qualify for "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families," based on income and resources. The goal, according to HB 2415, is to reduce the chances a family would become dependent on TANF. It's a one-time payment that a family can receive once in any 12-month period. The law increased the one-time payment to $2,000, up from $1,500. The money can be used to pay for expenses like food and housing, child care, transportation and medical costs. NEW LAWS The bills below went into effect as law Jan. 1 and change some programs meant to help Washingtonians stay in the workforce or recover after injuries. HB 5793 Expands definition of "family members" that workers can care for and use sick leave benefits. Also extends sick leave benefits to "transportation network company" employees. SHB 2127 Increases reimbursement to companies that employ injured workers in different jobs while they're recovering. HB 2415 Increases once-yearly payment available under the "Diversion Cash Assistance" program.
