Worker - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition worker

Definition :

Worker, means a person employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship. [Insecticides Act., 1968 (46 of 1968), s. 3 (r)]

It means a person employed, directly or by or through any agency (including a contractor) with or without the knowledge of the principal employer, whether for remuneration or not, in any manufacturing process, or in cleaning any part of the machinery or premises used for a manufacturing process, or in any other kind of work incidental to, or connected with, the manufacturing process, or the subject o the manufacturing process but does not include any member of the armed forces of the Union. [Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), s. 2 (l)]

Means a worker in any establishment or employ-ment in respect of which this Act has come into force. [Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (25 of 1976), s. 2 (i)]

Means any person who is employed for wages in any kind of work and who gets his wages directly from the employer but shall not include an apprentice referred to in clause (aa). [Apprentices Act, 1961 (52 of 1961), s. 2 (r)]

The definition of 'worker' in the Factories Act does not seem to exclude those employees who are entrusted solely with clerical duties, if they otherwise fall within the definition of the word 'worker'. Works Manager v .Vishwanath, AIR 1970 SC 95: (1969) 3 SCC 95: (1970) 2 SCR 726.

Where casual, heterogeneous, miscellaneous and irregular group come at their convenience and do the work at piece-rates and there are no specified hours of work, nor is there any control by the employers over the irregularity and attendance or of the nature, manner or quantum of their work, such employee will not fall under the definition of 'worker' u/s. 2(1) of the Factories Act, State of Kerala v. R.E. D'Souzha, AIR 1971 SC 832: (1971) 1 SCC 533: (1971) 3 SCR 711.

One who labours to attain an end; esp. a person employed to do work for another, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1599.

Means who are performing services that are not purely marginal and ancillary for and under the direction of their employers and receiving remuneration in return, R. v. Home Secretary, (2007) 1 WLR 508 (CA).