Once the law was enacted, it would be mandatory for employers in all industry or service to pay the national minimum wage which should be the wage of a worker after deduction of all contributions of all sorts, Parliament was told.

Special provisions are also contained in the Bill regarding workers who are already employed to raise their wages to the national minimum level. The law once passed will have retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.

The proposed law makes it mandatory for employers to maintain and keep within the premises a register setting out the name of each worker employed, the nature of work performed by each worker and the amount paid to each such worker as wages. The Labour Commissioner General, the competent authority in relation to the new law, will have the power to inspect such registers and take action against employers for noncompliance.

Along with the minimum wage law, the government also introduced a Bill for the payment of a Budgetary Relief Allowance of up to Rs. 2,500 to each private sector employee drawing a salary less than Rs. 40,000 per month.

The Bill titled Budgetary Relief Allowance of Workers says that every private sector employer should pay a budgetary relief allowance to each and every worker with effect from May 01, 2015. Only the workers drawing a salary below Rs. 40,000 a month is entitled for the allowance. From May, 2015 up to Jan, 2016 the allowance should be Rs 1,500 and the balance Rs 1,000 should be paid with effect from Jan, 2016.

In the case of a worker who is paid a daily rate not exceeding Rs 1,600, the allowance would be an additional Rs. 60 per day.