You are in which state and what is your location? All of you need to act.
You have posted that:
--“We asked him to sign the releiving letter wherein it was mentioned that full and final settlement has not been done. But he refused to do so saying he is not authorized to do so.”
This may be placed on record by sending even if an email. However employees should structure all representations carefully and avoid emotional outbursts, and should remain amiable and remain in touch with each other and directors.
All Employees should join hands and be witness to each other.
Employees should record such transactions {audio/visual. Mobile comes handy}, for use at appropriate time in appropriate forum.
--“Our 15-day salary for the month of August was kept on hold citing company policy.”
All of the employees now should resort to written representations and should demand that certified copy of the cited company policy be provided to them by redg. post.
The written representation shall come handy and useful if you have to satisfy the authority for delay at any point of time.
“For the month of Spetember and October, we have not been paid anything.”
The wages have not been paid and have been deducted.
Wages Inspector and Inspector under SE Act should be approached.
--“office address that was registered was of our show producer's office.”
Provide this address and other addresses to the authorities.
“The director of the company who is working with a private bank on a higher position has showed his wife, who is working with a leading newspaper, as another director on paper.”
This lady is Director/promoter on record. The authorities shall determine who is nominated to be manager, director on record and who is responsible for the payment of wages and they know whom and how to prosecute.
You may address your representations to all directors.
--“are they authorized to open a new company while they are employees of other organizations?”
The companies in which they are employed can object and act if they are not allowed to engage in other ventures as per their contract of employment.
However they have various source of income and so far it appears they have not informed authorities that they have to close the company.
--““ Now they are telling us to take half of the amount and other half when the event would be held.”
Collect this amount and as much as possible at once but do not sign and full and final settlement. Employees should be smart enough to apply their negotiation, persuasion, persistence, reasoning skills to the exceptional levels and resolve the situation in their favor.
Designation alone does not decide employee is a workman or not.
All employees can approach o/o Labor commissioner, Trade Union, Wages Inspector and Inspector under SE Act and lodge written complaints under acknowledgment.
All employees may approach a competent and exeprienced labor consultant/service lawyer, well versed with such matters, show all documents and give inputs in person, and let your lawyer evaluate the merits, and suggest appropriate forum if the need be.
The company may yield to legal notice of your lawyer or you may have to agitate in appropriate forum.
Apparently company has avoided PF, ESIC and employees can lodge complaint with local o/o these authorities as well.
You may log onto Labor website of your state and you can obtain contact detail of labor officials e.g. Inspector/Chief Inspector under SE Act which may be ALC, Wages Inspector, ALC/DLC etc. All of these authorities fall under the preview of RTI Act hence you can chase them and make them move and at the same time obtain record of action taken, penalties and recoveries made.
SE Act Delhi {you may look into Se Act applicable to your state}
1. Definitions:
(8) “employer” means the owner of any establishment about the business of which persons are employed, and where the business of such establishment is not directly managed by the owner, means the manager, agent or representative of such owner in the said business;
(21) “registration certificate” means a certificate showing the registration of an establishment;
{ The certificate has to be displayed at the address}
*5. Registration of Establishments.—(1) Within the period specified in sub- section (5), the occupier of every establishment shall send to the Chief Insspector a statement in a prescribed form, together with such fees as may be prescribed, containing:
(a) the name of the employer and the manager, if any;
(b) the postal address of establishment;
19. Time and conditions for payment of wages.—(1) Every employer or his agent or the manager of any establishment shall fix periods in respect of which wages to the employees shall be payable and such person shall be responsible for the payment to persons employed by him or all wages required to be paid under this Act.
(2) No wage period so fixed, shall exceed one month.
20. Deductions which may be made from wages.—
(5) The amount of fine imposed under sub-section (3) shall be utilised in accordance with the directions of the Government.
(6) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936).
21. Claims relating to wages:
(2) Application for any such claim may be made to the authority appointed under sub-section
(1) by the employee himself or any Official of a registered trade union authorised in writing to act
on his behalf or any legal practitioner or the Chief Inspector for a direction under sub-section (3):
Provided that every such application should be presented within one year from the date the claim for such wages has become payable under this Act:
Provided further that an application may be admitted after the said period of one year when the applicant satisfies the authority that he had sufficient cause for not making the application within such period.
30. Notice of Dismissal.—(1) No employer shall dispense with the services of an employee who has been in his continuous employment for not less than three months, without giving such person at least one month’s notice in writing or wages in lieu of such notice:
33. Records.—(1) The occupier of every shop or commercial establishment shall, in the prescribed form and in the prescribed manner, keep exhibited in the shop or establishment a notice setting forth the close day.
(c) Failure to maintain records—if single offence
(d) Can an Inspector require an employer to produce the record in his office for inspection?
35. Inspection of Registers and calling for information.—It shall be the duty of every occupier of a shop or establishment to produce for inspection of an Inspector, all accounts or records required to be kept for the purpose of this Act, and to give any other information in connection therewith as may be required.
41. Wilfully making false entries.— If any person with intent to deceive makes or causes or allows to be made in any record, register, or notice prescribed under section 33 an entry which is to his knowledge false in any material particular, or causes or allows to be omitted from any such record, register or notice an entry required to be made therein, he shall be liable on conviction to an imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months
43. Determination of employer for the purpose of this Act.—(1) Where the owner of an
establishment is a firm or other association of individuals, any one of the individual partners or members thereof may be prosecuted and punished under this Act for any offence for which an employer in an establishment is punishable:
You may also go thru
Payment of Wages Act:
3.
Responsibility for payment of wages.
3. Responsibility for payment of wages.- Every employer shall be responsible for the payment to persons employed by him of all wages required to be paid under this Act:
2*[(b) in industrial or other establishments, if there is a person responsible to the employer for the supervision and control of the industrial or other establishments;]
7. Deductions which may be made from wages.
8) All fines and all realisations thereof shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the person responsible for the payment of wages under section 3 in such form as may be prescribed; and all such realisations shall be applied only to such purposes beneficial to the persons employed in the factory or establishment as are approved by the prescribed authority.
13A.
Maintenance of registers and records.
5*[13A. Maintenance of registers and records .-(1) Every employer
shall maintain such registers and records giving such particulars of
persons employed by him, the work performed by them, the wages paid to them, the deductions made from their wages, the receipts given by them and such other particulars and in such form as may be prescribed.
15.
Claims arising out of deductions from wages or delay in payment ofwages and
penalty for malicious or vexatious claims.