With reference to casual workers employed in India, consider the following statements :

1. All casual workers are entitled to Employees Provident Fund coverage.

2. All casual workers are entitled to regular working hours and overtime payment.

3. The government can by a Notification specify that an establishment or industry shall pay wages only through its bank account.

Which of the above statements are correct?

The correct answer is 2 and 3​.

According to UPSC 2021 Answer key statement, 1 is incorrect.

Key Points

The provisions of the Provident Fund Act, 1952

• “Employee” means any person who is employed for wages in any kind of work, manual or otherwise, in or in connection with the work of (an establishment), and who gets his wages directly or indirectly from the employer. 
• Employe includes any person:
  • Employed by or through a contractor in or in connection with the work of the establishment.
  • engaged as an apprentice, not being an apprentice engaged under the Apprentices Act, 1961 (52 of 1961), or under the standing orders of the establishment.
• All casual/temporary workmen are to be covered. This statement is vague. Hence statement 1 is incorrect.
• According to the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950, when a worker works in employment for more than nine hours on any day or for more than forty-eight hours in any week, he shall in respect of overtime work, be entitled to wages -
  • In the case of employment in agriculture, at one and a half times the ordinary rate of wages.
  • In the case of any other scheduled employment, at double the ordinary rate of wages. Hence statement 2 is correct.
• The Central government has notified the amendment under section 6 of The Payment of Wages Act, 2017, with the provision that "the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the industrial or another establishment, the employer of which shall pay to every person employed in such industrial or another establishment, the wages only by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account". Hence statement 3 is correct.
• The counterargument for Statement 1:
  • The Act does not distinguish between a person employed on a permanent, temporary, contractual, or casual basis under Section 2 (f) of the EPF Act. 
  • Holding that an employer cannot differentiate between contractual and permanent employees, the Supreme Court in Jan 2020 has ruled that casual workers are also entitled to social security benefits under the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act.
  • West Bengal also covers All casual/temporary workmen under EPF Act.