RAS question
What is the penalty for non-compliant entities under the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025?
Correct answer: (B) 1% of total employee remuneration.
Under the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025, a non-compliant entity must pay a penalty equal to 1% of its total employees' remuneration.
Explanation
The Bill links the penalty to the employer's employee-remuneration base, not to a fixed fine, turnover figure, or licence sanction. Section 19 says every individual entity shall pay a penalty at the rate of one per cent of total employees' remuneration for non-compliance with the Bill. That sanction sits behind the substantive right created in section 7: every employee has the right to disconnect outside work hours, meaning the employer may contact the worker, but the employee is not obliged to reply and may refuse such calls. Non-compliant entities face sanctions of 1% of total employee remuneration because employees are not bound to answer employer communications after work hours.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) A fine of Rs 10 lakh is a fixed monetary penalty, while the Bill specifies a percentage-based penalty tied to total employees' remuneration.
- (C) Three per cent of annual turnover is wrong because section 19 uses one per cent of total employees' remuneration, not turnover, as the penalty base.
- (D) Suspension of a business licence for six months is not the sanction stated in the Bill; the stated sanction is a monetary penalty based on employee remuneration.
Concept
This tests labour-governance provisions in a current legislative proposal, especially how welfare rights are backed by compliance mechanisms. RAS often asks such details because governance questions combine the purpose of a Bill with its enforceable sanction.