Payment of Wages Act, 1936
Section 16: Single application in respect of claims from unpaid group
The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 was repealed and replaced by the Code on Wages, 2019 from 21 November 2025. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.
(1) Employed persons are said to belong to the same unpaid group if they are borne on the same establishment and if [deductions have been made from their wages in contravention of this Act for the same cause and during the same wage period or periods or if] their wages for the same wage-period or periods have remained unpaid after the day fixed by section 5.
(2) A single application may be presented under section 15 on behalf or in respect of any number of employed persons belonging to the same unpaid group, and in such case [every person on whose behalf such application is presented may be awarded maximum compensation to the extent specified in sub-section (3) of section 15].
(3) The authority may deal with any number of separate pending applications, presented under section 15 in respect of persons belonging to the same unpaid group, as a single application presented under sub-section (2) of this section, and the provisions of that sub-section shall apply accordingly.
Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.