The workers of the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Science deny the hospital’s claims of giving regular payment.
By Astha Oriel
Delayed payment has become one of the major concerns for the hospital staff, of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS). Many of them demand a regularized salary.
Rukamini, one of the nurse said, “We don’t receive salary on a regular basis. We were supposed to receive salary on the first week of this month, but it’s been more than two weeks since then. We have not received the salary till date. Even last month it was the same.”
She added, “When we go to the medical superintendent, he says that he will look into the matter. However, it’s been the same for months now.”
As per the media reports, delay in the provision of salary has always been one of the major issues amongst the staff of KIMS.
Dev, one of the ward boys said, “Yes we do receive salary, but we’re not paid on time.. Sometimes the delay is as long as a month or so. I don’t know about those who are frequently absent, but at least permanent employees who come regularly should get paid on time.”The Payment of wages act, 1936, states that there should be regulation of the salary to certain classes of people employed. It also states the guidelines for the fixation of wage period, time, and mode of payment of pages as well as permissible wage deduction.
Recently, a ward boy committed suicide, due to the non-payment of salary since January 2018, as claimed by his family.Mr. Vinod Kumar A.C. said, “We have a legal committee where we are discussing the issue regarding the timely payment of wages. We do pay our employees by the fifth of every month. We have also regularized the pay structure, where we give salary to both contractual and permanent workers. But sometimes, due to mismanagement, we are unable to pay the salary on time.”
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He added, “In situations when a person is a chronic absentee, the hospital is unable to maintain their work records and doesn’t give them salary.”
Aditi Bhatt, who is an advocate said, “If the institution is not paying the salaries to their employees, it’s against the labor laws. The employees should be given a regularized salary.”
