Gurugram: Poor pay and abrupt termination plague security guards in societies

GURUGRAM: The incident of a guard being thrashed by a resident in an upscale society in Sector 50 has put the spotlight on the issues faced by private security personnel in general. The main problems plaguing the guards range from low salary and overtime without pay to lack of yearly appraisals and other benefits, including free refreshments.
Gurugram has over a lakh guards and more than half of them are underpaid, according to labour law expert SS Thiriyan. As per the existing labour laws, the guards should be paid a minimum salary of Rs 10,000 a month and at least an 8.33% increment every year. Apart from these, they are entitled to free refreshments like tea and snacks twice a day and free uniform.
“Labour laws are not only restricted to government employees but include the private employees too. Being a lawyer I get cases, where workers are not paid for overtime and at times, salary is not given to them for months. Right now, I have 200 cases of guards. Most of the cases are related to termination of services without notice period or cause,” he said.
If a private agency has more than 100 guards and it has to terminate the services of one with immediate effect, the agency is bound to pay three month’s salary to them. In case, the agency has around 50 security guards, one month’s salary has to be given in case of immediate termination. “However, in most cases, the guards are terminated without being given the opportunity to serve the notice period. The workers are not able to stand for their rights, as they don’t have the bargaining power,” said Thiriyar.
Monu Kuhar, another labour court lawyer, echoed similar sentiments. “Regular nature of work is for permanent workers and seasonal work like white washing and construction is for contractual workers. In societies, guards are permanent workers but at many places, in violation, they are kept as contractuals. They don’t fight for their rights because of political, social and economic equations.”