Published 26.10.04, 12:00 AM

[+uc(substr('inlaw Barrister, High Court, Calcutta Q:Does an employee have the legal right to receive bonus from his employer? Does the law provide a minimum or a maximum amount of bonus payable by an employer? If an employer has coerced an employee to sign an agreement foregoing his right to receive bonus, does the employee have a remedy? Subhabrata Basu, Calcutta A:The employees of an establishment to which The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 applies have a statutory right to receive bonus. Section 10 of the Act requires employers to pay to employees in respect of the accounting year commencing on any day of 1979 and in respect of every subsequent accounting year, a minimum bonus of 8.33 per cent of the salary or wage earned by the employee during the accounting year or Rs 100, whichever is higher. Any agreement whereby an employee is to forego his right to receive bonus will be void and of no effect in view of Section 34 of the Act. Any dispute in this regard shall be deemed to be an industrial dispute within the meaning of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and the employee may pursue his remedy under that Act. However, there is no bar on the employees entering into an agreement with the employer for payment of annual bonus linked with production or productivity in lieu of bonus based on profits payable under the 1965 Act and such an agreement will be valid. But even then, as per Section 3 1A, any term in such agreement purporting to deprive the employees of the right to receive minimum bonus under Section 10 will be null and void. Q:My friend is employed in the PWD department of the state government. In May 2004, a disciplinary proceeding was initiated against him on allegations of misconduct, etc. The proceeding is still pending. Recently, he was transferred to Malda. Can he be so transferred when a disciplinary proceeding is pending against him? Ashim Bose, Calcutta A:If the post wh

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