Temporary payments are not wages under the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 (“ESI Act”)

The petitioner being the dependent of the deceased workman, challenged the refusal of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (“ESIC”) to grant benefit under ESIC Covid 19 Scheme. ESIC rejected the claim on the ground that workman did not fall with the meaning of employee under the ESI Act, Further the workman was also paid an additional sum of INR 2,674/- per month towards incentive thereby making his monthly salary more than the threshold as a consequence of which the petitioner is not entitled to receive the benefit under the ESIC Covid 19 Scheme. The Delhi High Court in this W.P.(C) 16407/2022 held, considering the benevolent nature of Covid Scheme, coupled with nomenclature of the monthly payment of INR 2,674/-, it is not acceptable to add the said amount to monthly wages, this amount is special incentive granted to the workman during the pandemic. The purpose of such additional payment was to enable working class to bear additional expenditure in form of mask, gloves, etc., which was temporary in nature, and such cannot be considered as wages making the petitioner eligible for the benefits.