An employer who intends to close down an undertaking does not need to inform the government when?

Option 3 : Less than fifty workmen are employed.

The correct answer is Less than fifty workmen are employed.

Under the Industrial Dispute act:

• An employer who intends to close down an undertaking need to inform the appropriate government at least sixty days before the date of closure.
• This is not applicable when:

1. Less than fifty workmen are employed or were employed in the preceding twelve months.
2. To the undertaking set up for construction work and projects
3. Any other exception provided by the government.

 Important Features of Industrial Dispute Act 1947:

• The Act applies to every industrial establishment carrying on any business, trade irrespective of the number of workmen employed therein.
• Also, every person employed in an establishment for hire including contract labour, a part-time employee is covered under this act.
• The act encourages arbitration over disputes between employers and employees.
• It provides for setting up of works committee in any industrial establishment with one hundred or more workers for consultation and to promote cordial relation.
• For every establishment employing twenty or more workmen a grievance redressal committee must be set up.
• Reasons for the dispute can be

1. Demand for higher wages.
2. Payment of bonus.
3. Higher social security benefits.
4. Demand for good and safer working conditions.

• Methods of dispute settlement are

1. Conciliation - It is a non-binding procedure in which an impartial third party, the conciliator, assists the parties to a dispute in reaching a mutually agreed settlement of the dispute.
2. Arbitration - In this, the dispute is submitted to an arbitral tribunal which makes a decision on the dispute that is binding on the parties.
3. Adjudication - It involves intervention in the dispute by a third party appointed by the government for the purpose of deciding the nature of the final settlement.

• Depending on the nature of the dispute, the Act empowers the Government to refer the dispute to an appropriate authority which is Labour Court, Industrial Tribunal and National Tribunal.
• The right to strike and the lockout has been subjected to the restriction as provided in the act.
• The act prohibits strikes and lockout by workers in public utility services if the conciliation and arbitration proceedings are pending and it empowers the government to take adequate action.
• An employer who intends to close down an undertaking needs to inform the appropriate government at least sixty days before the date of closure. This is not applicable when:

1. Less than fifty workmen are employed or were employed in the preceding twelve months.
2. To the undertaking set up for construction work and projects.
3. Any other exception provided by the government.