Revision as of 18:50, 13 April 2019

Child-care leave

Single, male employees eligible for 730 days

Bharti Jain, December 28, 2018: The Times of India

Male personnel in the central government who are single parents to dependant children can now avail of child care leave (CCL) of a total 730 days during their entire period of service, a provision that till now applied only to women employees.

Women government servants were entitled to CCL in three spells in a year that could be availed for up to two children. A ‘single’ male government employee has been defined as “an unmarried or widower or divorcee government servant”. Though the number of eligible single male parents is likely to be limited, the move signals a shift from considering women as the principal care-givers for children.

Interestingly, the DoPT order has introduced a cut in salary drawn for the latter half of the 730-day period. While the earlier rule required the beneficiary to be paid leave salary equal to the pay drawn immediately before proceeding on leave, the amended rule entitles such a beneficiary to 100% salary for the first 365 days and 80% for the next 365.

‘Onus of raising kids on male staffer if single’

Apart from CCL, women can avail paid maternity leave of 180 days and male parents can claim 15 days. Earlier, the government had increased the maternity leave for workers in the organised sector to 26 weeks. In an order notified earlier this month, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) also allowed a concession to women government employees who are single parents.

The DoPT order said: “A female government servant and single male government servant may be granted child care leave by an authority competent to grant leave for a maximum period of 730 days during entire service for taking care of two eldest surviving children, whether for rearing or for looking after any of their needs, such as education, sickness and the like.”

The decision to extend benefit of leave to single male parents is in line with recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission. In its report, the pay panel had said: “The commission notes that in the event a male employee is single, the onus of rearing the children falls on his shoulders.” On the salary cut for the latter half of the 730-day period, the Seventh Pay Commission argued that CCL should not be seen as a benefit to be availed simply because it existed.

Medical facilities

CGHS cover even at hospitals not on govt list: SC/ 2018

AmitAnand Choudhary, April 14, 2018: The Times of India

In a relief to over 44 lakh current and retired government employees and their families covered under the Central Government Health Scheme, the Supreme Court said that reimbursement cannot be denied to them even if they received treatment in a hospital not empanelled under the plan. The SC bench said “no fetters” could be placed on the rights of a government employee during his lifetime to get the best medical treatment and it was wrong to reimburse bills on the basis of rates fixed under CGHS in case the employee got treatment from a hospital which is not empanelled.

“The right to medical claim cannot be denied merely because the name of the hospital is not included in the government order,” the bench said.

Apex court slams ‘inhuman’ govt decision

“The real test must be the factum of treatment. Before any medical claim is honoured, the authorities are bound to ensure as to whether the claimant had actually taken treatment. Once it is established, the claim cannot be denied on technical grounds,” the bench said.

The court passed the order on a PIL filed by former Indian Revenue Service officer and advocate Shiva Kant Jha who was treated for a heart ailment at Fortis Escorts Hospital in Delhi and Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai in 2003. The total expenditure in the treatment was around Rs 13.8 lakh. The government initially refused to reimburse the bill on the ground that the hospitals were not empanelled and there was no need to implant CRT-D device.

After repeated representations made to the government, an amount of Rs 5.84 lakh was reimbursed to Jha on the basis of rates fixed under CGHS. He thereafter approached the Supreme Court for reimbursement of the rest of the amount. Opposing his plea, the Centre said reimbursement must be done on the basis of fixed rates since private hospitals, not empanelled under the scheme, charge high amounts for treatment. The bench slammed the Centre for taking an “inhuman approach” by denying the benefits and directed reimbursement of the rest of the amount within a month.

Salaries

How government salaries are determined

The Times of India, Nov 23 2015

Equity important basis in fixing pay of govt staff

What is a pay commission?

From time to time, the Centre appoints pay commissions for examining various aspects of the compensation package of central government employees and recommend appropriate pay revisions. So far, seven central pay commissions have been appointed. The first was constituted in 1946, followed by commissions appointed in 1957, 1970, 1983, 1994, 2006 and 2014. These commissions are the successors of Royal commissions set up during the British raj. The gap between two pay commissions has been about a dozen years, but the last pay commission was appointed within a space of eight years.

What factors are examined in fixing salaries of government employees?

The seventh pay commission report states that the salaries of government employees should be enough to motivate them to work as well as retain them in government service as the recruitment and training process of new employees is an expensive affair. Another important basis, is equity or equal pay for equal work.

How is the minimum salary fixed?

The estimation of minimum pay in government is the first step towards building a new pay structure. It is fixed by considering the recommendations of the 15th Labour Conference held in 1957. The need-based wages are fixed to cover all the needs of a worker's family.One key measure is food requirements as specified by the recommendations of Dr Wallace Akroyd's formula providing a minimum of 2,700 calories and a specified quanitity of protein, fat and so on. The normative family is taken to consist of a spouse and two children below the age of 14. With the husband assigned one unit, wife 0.8 units and the two children 0.6 units each, the minimum wage needs to be enough to provide for three consumption units. It also keeps in mind the 1991 judgment of the Supreme Court asking for providing for education, medical expenses, recreation, festivals and ceremonies. Based on these criteria, the minimum wage fixed by the seventh pay commission is Rs 18,000.

How are higher level salaries fixed?

The pay matrix has two dimensions hor izontal and vertical.

There are 18 horizon tal levels for starting points in various government jobs and then there are verti cal ranges of pay progression for each of these levels.An employee joins at a particular level and progresses within the level as per the vertical range. The movement is usually on an annual basis, based on annual increments till the time of their next promotion. Different compensations are fixed for all these stages. In the first pay commission, there was a huge difference between the highest and the lowest paid government employees. For instance in 1948, the salary of the highest paid government official was Rs 2,000 which was 37 times higher than the Rs 55 paid to the lowest earning employee. The ratio was progressively reduced to reach 10.2 times by the fifth pay commission. In the seventh pay commission stands at 13.9.