Fact Check: Did Labour Ministry request employers to not sack employees amid COVID-19?

Claim: Ministry of Labour and Employment has requested employers to not terminate or cut wages of their employees during the coronavirus lockdown. 

Rating: True

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Is The Video Showing Animals Reclaiming The World Amid Lockdown True?

What is the rumour about?

• A circular has been circulating all over social media stating that the Ministry of Labour and Employment is asking all private companies and even government bodies to not sack their employees, especially the contractual or casual workers. Even the workers who are on leave should be considered on duty and their wages should not be cut off during this period. 
• Take a look at the circular that has been circulating recently all over social media. 

Image courtesy: WhatsApp forwards

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Did Singapore Appeal To All Nations To Suspend Zoo Culture?

Who is spreading?

Social media forwards that were received as a WhatsApp message by many government employees and their contacts. The circular soon started spreading all over like wildfire. Here is a Google Trends analysis of the same. 

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Did Donald Trump Advise injecting People With Disinfectant To Fight COVID-19?

Google Trends 

After an analysis of Google Trends with respect to Labour and Employment Ministry circular, one can see that the people have been hugely interested to know about the same. The maximum number of searches have been done on April 29, 2020. 

Image courtesy: Google Trends 

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Did The Philippines Police Shoot A Man Dead At COVID-19 Checkpoint?

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Are The 16 COVID-19 Tips By A Doctor Of Ganga Ram Hospital Authentic?

Republic World did a fact check 

• Republic World did a fact check on the circular that has been circulating on social media and the claims were found to be True. 
• The Ministry of Labour and Employment has indeed asked all private and public sector companies to NOT terminate their employees, especially the contractual or casual workers. They should be considered on duty and their wages should not be cut off during this period as doing this would further deepen their financial issues amidst the lockdown crisis. 
• It is found that the advisories were released by the Labour and Employment Ministry of the Government of India on March 20, 2020, and it is now that they have been spreading like wildfire on social media. The information written on the circular is absolutely True and is also fact-checked by PIB on Twitter as well. 

Image courtesy: Twitter

• The circular was addressed by Joint Secretary Kalpana Rajsinghot and by Heeralal Samraiya, IAS, Secretary to Govt. of India, on March 20, 2020. They shared the advisories with the Employers' Association as well as the Chief secretaries of the state, advising them to extend their support to the employees and workers. Here are the respective circulars that they addressed via the Ministry of Labour and Employment website. 

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Is Ministry Of Human Resources Giving Free Access To National Digital Library?

Image courtesy: Ministry of Labour and Employment website

Image courtesy: Ministry of Labour and Employment website

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Did The First Volunteer In The UK Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Die In 2 Days?

Here are more advisories from the Ministry of Labour and Employment website that shared the same circular with the respective associations asking private and public bodies to extend their support to their employees, especially contractual and casual workers. 

Advisories on COVID-19

Image courtesy: Ministry of Labour and Employment website

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Can Using AC During Lockdown Increase The Chances Of Coronavirus Spread?

Is there any rumour you want Republic World to do a fact check on? Do you have facts about a rumour? Share your pictures or videos with Republic World on contact@republicworld.com or comment on this story itself. 

ALSO READ| Fact Check: Truth Behind Congress Claim Of Arnab's Post-attack Video's 'metadata Mismatch'

Promo Image courtesy: Shutterstock