“CONCEPT OF ‘CONTINUOUS SERVICE’ UNDER THE INDUSTRIAL

DISPUTES ACT, 1947”

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

Dr Kirandeep Kaur (Industrial and Labour Law- I)

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE DEGREE

OF B.A.LLB

SUBMITTED BY:
AKSHAY RATHORE (1959)

Punjabi University, Patiala

Submission Year: August, 2021- December, 2021
 DECLARATION

It is certified that the project presented in this report entitled “CONCEPT OF

‘CONTINUOUS SERVICE’ UNDER THE INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES ACT, 1947”

embodies the result of original research work carried out by me. All the ideas
and references have been acknowledged.

Date: 8th November, 2021. Name: Akshay Rathore

Roll number: 1959 Place: Kota

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my humble gratitude and personal regards to

Dr Kirandeep Kaur, for inspiring me and guiding me during the course of this
project work and also for his cooperation and guidance from time to time during
the course of this project work on the topic: -

“CONCEPT OF ‘CONTINUOUS SERVICE’ UNDER THE INDUSTRIAL

DISPUTES ACT, 1947”
INTRODUCTION

Chapter VA of The Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 deals with the concept of Continuous
Service. Section 25B contains the provisions related to the continuance of service.

As per Section 25B, a workman is said to render continuous service if he has worked for at
least one year without any interruption. He shall be eligible for compensation if he has
rendered a minimum of one year of continuous service. The interruption of such continuous
service is not affected by reasons such as an accident, authorized leave, sickness, legal
strikes, a lock and the termination of work that is not due to the fault of the workmen.

Continuous Service means that the Participant's service with the Company or an Affiliate,
whether as an Employee, Director or Consultant, is not interrupted or terminated. The
Participant's Continuous Service shall not be deemed to have terminated merely because of a
change in the capacity in which the Participant renders service to the Company or an Affiliate
as an Employee, Consultant or Director or a change in the entity for which the Participant
renders such service, provided that there is no interruption or termination of the Participant's
Continuous Service
PROVISIONS UNDER CHAPTER VA OF THE ACT

SECTION 25B- Definition of continuous service1

A workman who has completed a minimum of one year’s continuous service with the same
employer alone is entitled to lay-off compensation under Section 25C. In 1964 section 25B
was amended to its present form. Section 25C(I) defines continuous service and Section
25B(2) defines ‘continuous service of one year’ while sub-clause (b) of section28B(2) defines
‘continuous service of six months’.

Continuous service means uninterrupted service. However, interruption on account of any of

the following reasons will still deem such service to be uninterrupted. Such instances are:

a) Sickness;

b) Authorized leave;

c) Accident;

d) Strike which is not illegal;

e) Lock-out; and

f) Cessation of work which is not due to any fault on the part of the workman. Participation in
illegal strike: A workman taking part in illegal strike ipso facto does not affect his continuity
in service, unless that workman is actually dismissed from service on this score.

Continuous Service of One Year: -

Under Section 25B(2)(a) of the Act a person can be said to be in continuous service for a
period of one year if that worker: -

i) Has been in employment for twelve calendar months; and

ii) He has actually worked for not less than:

● 190 days in the case of employment below ground in a mine;

● 240 days in any other case.

1 Industrial Dispute Act,1947, §25B, 14, Acts of Parliament 1947.

 Both the conditions in (i) and (ii) must be simultaneously complied with. Hence,
employment for 12 calendar months but with less than 190 or 240, as the case may be,
actual days of work by a workman will not be satisfying this provision. Similarly, a
workman who has put in more than 190- or 240-days actual work but that in less than 12
calendar months will not be in conformity with the provision. Before a workman can be
considered to have completed one year of continuous service in an industry it must be
shown first that he was employed for a period of not less than 12 calendar months and,
next that during those 12 calendar months had worked for not less than 240 days. Where
the workman has not at all been employed for a period of 12 calendar months, it becomes
unnecessary to examine whether the actual days of work numbered 240 days or more.

Continuous Service of Six Months

Under Section 25-B(2)(B) a worker must:

i) Have been in employment for a period of six calendar months; and

ii) Have actually worked for not less than 95 days in the case of his employment in
underground mine or 120 days in any other case to constitute continuous service for a
period of six months

Clarification- The number of days on which a worker has really worked under a business will
remember the days for which: 

(i) he has been laid-off under an understanding or as reasonable by standing requests made
under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 (20 of 1946), or under this Act
or under the other law relevant to the business establishment;

(ii) he has been inert with full wages, earned in the earlier years; 

(iii) he has been missing a result of brief impedance caused incidentally emerging out of and
inside the course of his work; and 
(iv) on account of a female, she has been on maternity leave; in this manner, notwithstanding,
that the general time of such maternity leave doesn’t surpass twelve weeks.

CONDITIONS PRECEDENT FOR PROVIDING COMPENSATION TO

A LAID-OFF WORKMAN 
As per Section 25C, the workman who is laid off is entitled to compensation that is
equivalent to half of the total wages and allowance given for the said period of lay-off.

However, such compensation is subject to the following conditions –

● The workman is not a badli2 or a casual worker.

● The workman’s name must be mentioned in the muster roll of the industrial
establishment.

● The workman must have rendered at least one year of continuous service under
such an employer.

The Supreme Court recently defied continuous service in the case of Manju Saxena v Union
of India & Anr3, that an employee who abandons work voluntarily cannot be defined as an
employee who is in “continuous service”, which is a requirement for the applicability of
section 25F of the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947

In the case of G. Jagadishwar Reddy v Railways4,5, it was held that retrenchment

compensation can also be claimed by casual workers under the provisions of Section 25F of
the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 if such casual worker had rendered continuous service for
a period of one year.

2 " Badli workman" means a workman who is employed in an industrial establishment in the place of another
workman whose name is borne on the muster rolls of the establishment, but shall cease to be regarded as such
for the purposes of this section, if he has completed one year of continuous service in the establishment, Sec
25C, Industrial Dispute Act, 1947.

3 Manju Saxena v. Union of India, 2018 SCC Online, SC 2659.

4 G. Jagadishwar Reddy v Railways, Guntakal Division, (1975) ILLJ 351, AP.
5
CONCLUSION

Continuous Service means the uninterrupted provision of services to the Company or any

Related Entity in any capacity of Employee, Director, Consultant or other service provider.
Continuous Service shall not be considered to be interrupted in the case of (i) any approved
leave of absence, (ii) transfers among the Company, any Related Entities, or any successor
entities, in any capacity of Employee, Director, Consultant or other service provider, or (iii)
any change in status as long as the individual remains in the service of the Company or a
Related Entity in any capacity of Employee, Director, Consultant or other service provider
(except as otherwise provided in the Award Agreement). An approved leave of absence shall
include sick leave, military leave, or any other authorized personal leave.

The role of the India Judiciary and the scope of judicial interpretation have expanded
remarkably in recent times, partly because of the tremendous growth of statutory intervention
in the present era. For instance, the Apex Court defines the Continuous Service in 2018 in the
case of Manju Saxena6.

6 Manju Saxena v. Union of India, 2018 SCC Online, SC 2659.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

● THE INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE ACT, 1947 (63 of 1948).

● S.N. MISHRA, LABOUR & INDUSTRIAL LAWS (29 ed., Central Law
Publications, 2019).
● https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/
● https://blog.ipleaders.in/