In the wake of rising cases of novel coronavirus in the country, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has issued an advisory to all the employers of public and private establishments to not deduct salaries of the employees.

"The world is facing a catastrophic situation due to outbreak of COVID-19 and in order to combat this challenge, coordinated joint efforts of all sections of the society are required. In view of the above, there may be incidence that employee/worker's services are dispensed with on this pretext or the employee/worker are forced to go on leave without wage/salaries” the Ministry said in an official release.

The release further stated that in the backdrop of such a challenging situation, all the employers may be advised to extend their coordination by not terminating their employers, particularly casual or contractual employees from any job or reduce their salaries.

"If any worker takes leave, he should be deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages for this period. Further, if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due to COVID-19, the employees of such unit will be deemed to be on duty," the release added.

The Ministry also said that the termination of workforce or reduction in wages in the contemporary scenario will further deepen the crises and will not only weaken the financial condition of the employee but also hamper their morale to combat their fight with this epidemic.