Previous Year Question
Which Chapter of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 dealt with the payment of remuneration at equal rates to men and women workers and other matters?
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
Chapter II of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 dealt with the payment of remuneration at equal rates to men and women workers and other related matters. In the official India Code text of the Act, Chapter II is explicitly titled “Payment of Remuneration at Equal Rates to Men and Women Workers and Other Matters.”
Under Section 4 of this Chapter, an employer could not pay a man or woman worker at a rate less favourable than that paid to a worker of the opposite sex for the same work or work of a similar nature. Section 5 of the same Chapter prohibited sex-based discrimination against women in recruitment and certain subsequent conditions of service. Chapter II also contained provisions relating to the Advisory Committee and claims/complaints concerning equal remuneration.
An important update regarding the current law: The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 now belongs to the earlier legal framework. The Code on Wages, 2019 came into force on 21 November 2025 and repealed/subsumed the Equal Remuneration Act. Under the current Code on Wages, Section 3 prohibits gender-based discrimination in wages for the same work or work of a similar nature.