It is felt that problem is union rep and his conduct as it is not acceptable and palatable to you and not the employees and members of the union. Record the transactions with this union rep. Involve some of the personnel from IR and legal cell, legal counsel etc to transact with union rep and put his conduct on record. No one can resort to intimidation, coercion, foul language, coercion, threatening, riotous behavior, rude conduct at work place and put the matter on record. Once you have enough material on record company can proceed to tighten the screws on union rep. Even if his demands are genuine he has to mend his conduct.
Company should not act on impulse and should not violate any act.
The company has apparently allocable surplus and company must adhere to provisions and clauses of Payment of Bonus Act.
Probably this union rep is clear on the provisions of the Act, and perfromance and profits of the company and that is why he is prompting the company to disburse accordingly.
Bonus payable under the Act is linked with profits. The employer has to calculate "gross profits" of his establishment in the manner specified in section 4. Then from "gross profits" so calculated he has to deduct the sums referred to in section 6 as prior charges. The balance is called "available surplus". A percentage of the available surplus calculated in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 2 is called "allocable surplus". Where, in respect of any year the allocable surplus exceeds the amount of minimum bonus payable to the employees, the employer must pay to every employee in respect of that year bonus in proportion to the salary or wage earned by the employee during the year subject to a maximum of twenty percent of such salary or wage. {Subsection 2(4), 4 , 5, 6 & 11}
The principle behind fixing a minimum and maximum limit for payment of bonus is that the rate of bonus should not fluctuate widely from year to year.
Every employer is required to maintain, in the prescribed form, the following three registers:
a. a register showing the computation of the allocable surplus;
b. a register showing the set-on and set-off of the allocable surplus;
c. a register showing the details of the amount of bonus payable to each of employees, the amount of deductions if any, and the amount actually paid.
The employer is also required to send, in the prescribed form, an annual return to the Inspector appointed under the Act. The time limit for sending the annual return is thirty days from the expiry of the time limit specified in section 19 for payment of bonus. {Section 26 & Rule 4 and 5
If company is performing and employees are contributing to fetch the profits they should be rewarded with bonus as per provisions of the act.
Valuable advice of learned experts/members is sought.
