The Government of Goa notifies the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (Goa Amendment) Act, 2020

The Government of Goa has notified the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (Goa Amendment) Act, 2020. The Act was notified on 28^th September 2020 and shall be deemed to be in force from 26^th June 2020.

The following are the key changes contemplated by the Amendment Act:

Applicability

• The Amendment Act will apply to establishments or contractors employing fifty or more workmen as contract labour in the last 12 months. Furthermore, the government may give 2 months’ notice of its intention to extend the provisions of this Bill to establishments or contractors employing less than fifty workmen.

The Amendment Act enhances the requisite number of workers as compared to the Act of 1970 that prescribes twenty workers. This enhancement of the threshold limit of workers for attracting the applicability under the Act from twenty to fifty workmen seeks to facilitate initiatives in the field of labour reforms

Compounding of Offences

• The Amendment Act also incorporates a provision for compounding offences relating to obstruction to the discharge of duties by the inspectors, willful refusal to produce any registers or documents under this Bill or preventing any person from being examined by the inspector.

Moreover, this Amendment Act also permits compounding of offences for which no specific penalty is provided under the Act.

The Amendment Act specifies the amount of composition depending on the number of workmen employed in the establishment as follows:

1. Where there are 50 to 100 workers employed, the composition amount will be Rs. 20,000,
2. Where there are 101 to 500 workers employed, the composition amount will be Rs. 35,000 and
3. Where there are more than 500 workers employed, the composition amount will be Rs. 50,000

The Amendment Act clarifies that offences of the same nature can be compoundable only for the first three offences. Additionally, the offence will be compounded only if the offender satisfies the notified officer or authority that the offence is not being continued any further.

• The Amendment Act also repeals The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (Goa Amendment) Ordinance, 2020.