Q: I work as a stenographer in the sales office of a public limited company. There are three other stenographers in the office, but I am the only woman stenographer. Sometime ago I found out that the other three are drawing a salary higher than mine though the nature of our work is the same. I felt that this was blatant discrimination and made a representation to the managing director of the company, but in vain. Do I have any recourse in law?
Name witheld
A: Your grievance is fully justified. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, provides that no employer shall pay to any worker employed by him remuneration at rates less favourable than those at which remuneration is paid by him to the workers of the opposite sex for performing the same work. Your employer is acting in breach of this provision of the said act. You can complain to the authority constituted by the state government under section 7 of the said act. The authority has the power to direct the employer to pay your salary at the same rate at which the other stenographers are being paid. There is also provision in the said act for enforcement of such order. The contravention of the provisions of the said act by an employer attracts punishment in the form of fine upto Rs 20,000 or imprisonment upto one year or both. If the offending employer is a company, every person who at the time when the offence was committed was in-charge of the company for the conduct of its business shall also be deemed to be guilty and liable to be proceeded against. You can complain to a metropolitan or a judicial magistrate of the first class.
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