The Meghalaya government on Monday (March 23) decided to pay Rs 1000 per worker per week for the wages foregone during the state-wide lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak.
In order to mitigate the distress faced by the building and others construction workers who are registered with the Labour Commissioner, Principal Secretary Donald Philips Wahlang said the department has decided and approved to an amount of Rs 1000 per worker per week for the wages foregone on account of the lockdown on commercial operations and business establishments in the state.
The Meghalaya government on March 23 announced a five-day statewide lockdown from March 24 barring on March 26 as a measure to prevent outbreak of COVID-19 in the state.
Wahlang said the order will be applicable from March 23 to March 29 and will be reviewed further on March 30.
According to government sources, there are about 34,000 registered workers in the state.
In a notification issued on Monday, Wahlang directed the employees/owners of public and private the establishments to ensure that employees are not terminated or forces to go on leave without wages/salaries.
“If any worker takes leave, he should be deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages for this period,” the notification stated.
It also stated that if the place of employment is to be made “non-operational” due to COVID-19, the employees of such unit will be deemed to be on duty.
“No action should be taken by the employer which could weaken the financial condition of the employee and deepen the crisis further,” the notification said.
