Revisiting The Definition Of "Workman"

While various concepts under Indian employment law have achieved some sort of streamlining over the years, one question which has failed to disappear and keeps resurfacing before employment lawyers, both on the advisory and the disputes side is, who is a 'Workman'.

This write-up revisits the definition of Workman with a view to identify certain fundamental elements which may assist in determining which employee can be categorized as a Workman.

First principles

A close look at the definition of Workman under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ("ID Act") will reveal that there is a two-step process to establish if an employee can be categorized as a Workman.

The first step (Included Persons)-