Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Act 1949

1949 CHAPTER 30 12_13_and_14_Geo_6

Contents

Go to Preamble

1. The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board and Agricultural Wages Committee

   1. 1. The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board

   2. 2.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2. Wages and Holidays

   1. 3. Power of Scottish Agricultural Wages Board to fix rates of wages and holidays

   2. 3A.Enforcement

   3. 4. Enforcement of holidays orders

   4. 5.Permits to infirm and incapacitated persons

   5. 6. Provisions as to learners

   6. 7. Reckoning of benefits and advantages as payment of wages

   7. 8.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

   8. 9. Provisions as to applications, &c., to agricultural wages committees

   9. 10.Criminal liability of agents and special defence open to employer

   10. 11. Avoidance of agreements in contravention of this Act and saving for other agreements, &c

3. Supplementary

   1. 12. Officers

   2. 13. Annual reports

   3. 14. Expenses

   4. 15. Evidence of resolutions and orders of the Board and agricultural wages committees

   5. 15A.Information obtained by national minimum wage officers

   6. 16. Power to give effect to, and modify, Act as respects holidays and holiday remuneration

   7. 17. Interpretation

   8. 17A.Relationship between this Act and the National Minimum Wage Act 1998

   9. 18.Repeal and savings

   10. 19. Short title and extent

4. FIRST SCHEDULE

   Constitution and Proceedings of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board

5. SECOND SCHEDULE

6. THIRD SCHEDULE

   Orders of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board

7. FOURTH SCHEDULE

   Enactments Repealed

An Act to consolidate the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) (Scotland) Acts 1937 to 1947, and so much of the Holidays with Pay Act 1938, as enables a wage regulating authority to make provision for holidays and holiday remuneration for workers in Agriculture in Scotland.

[26th April 1949]

The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board and Agricultural Wages Committee

1 The Scottish Agricultural Wages Board

(1)There shall be a Board, to be called the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (in this Act referred to as “the Board”) which shall have, . . . F1, such functions with respect to the fixing of minimum rates of wages for workers employed in agriculture and of directing that such workers shall be entitled to be allowed holidays, and such other functions, as are conferred on the Board by the subsequent provisions of this Act.

(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F2

(3)The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution and proceedings of the Board.

2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1

Wages and Holidays

[F13 Power of Scottish Agricultural Wages Board to fix rates of wages and holidays

(1)Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this section, the Board shall have power to make an order in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 3 to this Act—

(a)fixing minimum rates of wages;

(b)directing holidays to be allowed;

(c)fixing any other terms and conditions of employment for workers employed in agriculture.

(2)The power of the Board to make an order under subsection (1)(a) of this section fixing minimum rates of wages is a power to make an order—

(a)fixing minimum rates for time work;

(b)fixing minimum rates for piece work;

(c)fixing minimum rates for time work, to apply in the case of workers employed on piece work, for the purpose of securing to such workers a minimum rate of remuneration on a time work basis; or

(d)fixing separate minimum rates by way of pay in respect of holidays:

Provided that the minimum time rate for piece work shall not in any case be higher than the minimum rate which, if the work were time work, would be applicable thereto by virtue of paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(2A)It shall be the duty of the Board to make an order under this section fixing such minimum rates of wages for time work as are referred to in paragraph (a) of the last preceding subsection.

[ F2(2B)No minimum rate fixed under this section which is an hourly rate shall be less than the national minimum wage.

(2C)No minimum rate fixed under this section which is a rate other than an hourly rate shall be such as to yield a less amount of wages for each hour worked than the hourly amount of the national minimum wage.]

(3)An order under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section directing that a worker shall be allowed a holiday—

(a)shall not be made unless both minimum rates of wages in respect of the period of the holiday and minimum rates of wages otherwise than in respect of the holiday have been or are being fixed under this section for that worker;

(b)shall provide for the duration of the holiday being related to the duration of the period for which the worker has been employed or engaged to be employed by the employer who is to allow the holiday; and

(c)subject as aforesaid, may make provisions as to the times at which or the periods within which, and the circumstances in which, the holiday shall be allowed.

(3A)An order under this section fixing separate minimum rates of wages in respect of holidays may make provision—

(a)with respect to the times at which, and the conditions subject to which, those wages shall accrue and shall become payable, and

(b)for securing that any such wages which have accrued to a worker during his employment by any employer shall, in the event of his ceasing to be employed by that employer before he becomes entitled to be allowed a holiday by him, nevertheless become payable by the employer to the worker.

(4)Any such minimum rates of wages as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section may be fixed so as to vary according as the employment is for a day, week, month or other period, or according to the number of working hours, or the conditions of the employment or so as to provide for a differential rate in the case of employment defined by the Board as being overtime employment, whether that employment is remunerated on a time work or a piece work basis.

In the exercise of their powers under this subsection, the Board shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, secure a weekly half-holiday for workers.

(5)An order under this section shall have effect as regards any terms as to remuneration from a date specified in the order, which may be a date earlier than the date of the order but not earlier than the date on which the Board agreed on those terms prior to publishing (in accordance with Schedule 3 to this Act) the original proposals to which effect is given, with or without modifications, by the order.

(6)Any increase in wages payable by virtue of an order under this section in respect of any time before the date of the order (hereafter in this Act referred to as arrears of wages) shall be paid by the employer within a period specified in the order being—

(a)in the case of a worker who is in the employment of the employer on that date, a period begining with that date;

(b)in the case of a worker who is no longer in the employment of the employer on that date, a period beginning with that date or the date on which the employer receives from the workers or a person acting on his behalf a request in writing for those wages, whichever is the later.

(7)Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing the Board fixing a minimum rate of wages so as to secure that workers employed in agriculture receive remuneration calculated by reference to periods during the currency of their employment.]

[ F3(8)If the Board makes, or purports to make, an order fixing a minimum rate under this section—

(a)which is an hourly rate but which is lower than the national minimum wage in force when that minimum rate comes into effect, or

(b)which is a rate other than an hourly rate but which is such as to yield a less amount of wages for each hour worked than the hourly amount of the national minimum wage in force when that minimum rate comes into effect,

the Board shall be taken to have made an order fixing in place of that minimum rate a minimum rate equal to the national minimum wage or, as the case may be, a minimum rate such as to yield an amount of wages for each hour worked equal to the hourly amount of the national minimum wage.

(9)If, at any time after a minimum rate which is an hourly rate comes into effect under this section, the national minimum wage becomes higher than that minimum rate, then, as respects any period beginning at or after that time, the Board shall be taken to have made an order fixing in place of that minimum rate a minimum rate equal to the national minimum wage.

(10)If, at any time after a minimum rate other than an hourly rate comes into effect under this section, the national minimum wage is increased to such a level that that minimum rate yields a less amount of wages for each hour worked than the hourly amount of the national minimum wage, then, as respects any period beginning at or after that time, the Board shall be taken to have made an order fixing in place of that minimum rate a minimum rate such as to yield an amount of wages for each hour worked equal to the hourly amount of the national minimum wage.

(11)Subsections (8) to (10) of this section are without prejudice to the power of the Board to make further orders under this section fixing any minimum rates.

(12)Where an order under this section fixes any particular minimum rate of wages by reference to two or more component rates, of which—

(a)one is the principal component, and

(b)the other or others are supplemental or additional components,

(as in a case where the minimum rate for night work is fixed as the sum of the minimum rate payable in respect of work other than night work and a supplemental or additional minimum rate in respect of working at night) the national minimum wage provisions of this section apply in relation to the principal component rate and not the supplemental or additional component rates.

(13)The national minimum wage provisions of this section do not apply in relation to any minimum rate which is in the nature of an allowance payable in respect of some particular responsibility or circumstance (as in a case where a minimum rate is fixed in respect of being required to keep a dog).

(14)The national minimum wage provisions of this section do not apply in relation to any minimum rate fixed under this section—

(a)by virtue of subsection (2)(d) of this section, or

(b)by virtue of section 67 of the M1Agriculture Act 1967 (sick pay),

unless and to the extent that regulations under section 2 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 make provision which has the effect that circumstances or periods in respect of which the minimum rate in question is required to be paid to a worker are treated as circumstances in which, or times at which, a person is to be regarded as working.

(15)In this section “the national minimum wage provisions of this section” means subsections (2B), (2C) and (8) to (10) of this section.]

[ F13AEnforcement

(1)The enforcement provisions of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 shall have effect for the purposes of this Act as they have effect for the purposes of that Act, but with the modifications specified in subsection (3) of this section.

(2)In subsection (1) of this section “the enforcement provisions of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998” means the following provisions of that Act—

(a)sections 9 to 11 (records);

(b)section 14 (powers of officers);

(c)sections 17 and 19 to 22 (enforcement of right to national minimum wage);

(d)sections 23 and 24 (right not to suffer detriment);

(e)section 28 (evidence: reversal of burden of proof in civil proceedings);

(f)sections 31, 32 and 33(4) and (5) (offences);

(g)section 48 (superior employees); and

(h)section 49 (restriction on contracting out).

(3)In the application of any provision of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 by subsection (1) of this section—

(a)any reference to that Act, other than a reference to a specific provision of it, includes a reference to this Act;

(b)any reference to a worker (within the meaning of that Act) shall be taken as a reference to a worker employed in agriculture (within the meaning of this Act);

(c)any reference to a person (however described) who qualifies for the national minimum wage shall be taken as a reference to a worker employed in agriculture;

(d)subject to paragraph (c) of this subsection, any reference to the national minimum wage, other than a reference to the hourly amount of the national minimum wage, shall be taken as a reference to the minimum rate applicable under this Act;

(e)subject to paragraph (c) of this subsection, any reference to qualifying for the national minimum wage shall be taken as a reference to being entitled to the minimum rate applicable under this Act; and

F2(f). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F3(3A)In the application of section 17 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 by subsection (1) of this section–

(a)for subsection (2) there shall be substituted the following subsection–

“(2)That amount is the difference between–

(a)the remuneration received by the worker as a worker employed in agriculture for the pay reference period from his employer; and

(b)the amount which he would have received as a worker employed in agriculture for that period had he been remunerated by the employer at the minimum rate applicable under this Act;”

(b)subsection (3) shall be disregarded.]

(4)In section 104A of the M1Employment Rights Act 1996 (unfair dismissal: national minimum wage) in subsection (1)(c)—

(a)any reference to a person qualifying for the national minimum wage includes a reference to a person being or becoming entitled to a minimum rate applicable under this Act; and

(b)any reference to a person qualifying for a particular rate of national minimum wage includes a reference to a person being or becoming entitled to a particular minimum rate applicable under this Act.]

4 Enforcement of holidays orders

(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, if an employer fails—

F1(a). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F1(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(c)to allow to any such worker the holidays fixed by the order [F2or

F1(d). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

he shall be liable on summary conviction in respect of each offence to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds F3. . ..

F4(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .]

(3)In any proceedings against a person under this section it shall lie with him to prove that he F5. . . has allowed the holidays fixed by the order F5. . ..

F6(4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5Permits to infirm and incapacitated persons

(1)If, on an application in that behalf, [F1the Secretary of State is] satisfied that a worker employed or desiring to be employed . . . F2 on time work to which a minimum rate fixed under this Act is applicable, or on piece work to which a minimum time rate so fixed is applicable, is so affected by any physical injury or mental deficiency, or any infirmity due to age or to any other cause, that he is incapable of earning that minimum rate, the [F1Secretary of State shall grant] to him a permit exempting, as from the date of the application or from a later date specified in the permit, his employment from the provisions of [F3subsection (1) of section 31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 as it applies for the purposes of this Act (offence of refusing or wilfully neglecting to pay worker at applicable rate)], subject to such conditions as may be specified in the permit, including, if the [F1Secretary of State thinks] fit, a condition as to the wages to be paid to the worker, and, while the permit has effect, an employer shall not be liable to [F4any legal proceedings under that subsection, as it so applies, for refusing or wilfully neglecting] to pay to the worker wages at a rate less than the minimum rate if those conditions are complied with.

[ F5(1A)Every permit under subsection (1) of this section (whenever granted) shall be deemed to contain a condition that the worker to whom it is granted must at any time be paid at a rate which—

(a)in the case of an hourly rate, is not less than the national minimum wage in force at that time, or

(b)in the case of a rate other than an hourly rate, is such as to yield an amount of wages for each hour worked which is not less than the hourly amount of the national minimum wage in force at that time.

(1B)The condition which a permit is deemed to contain by virtue of subsection (1A) of this section—

(a)overrides any other condition which the permit contains as to payment of wages, to the extent that that other condition provides for payment of wages at any time at a lower rate; but

(b)is without prejudice to any other condition which the permit contains as to payment of wages, to the extent that that other condition provides for payment of wages at any time at a higher rate.]

(2)If an application for a permit under [F6subsection (1) of this section] is not disposed of within twenty-one days after the day on which it is received, then the employer of the worker to whom the application relates shall not be liable to [F7any legal proceedings under section 31(1) of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, as it applies for the purposes of this Act, for refusing or wilfully neglecting] to pay to the worker wages at a rate not less than the minimum rate during the interval between the expiration of the said period and the date on which the application is ultimately disposed of.

[F8(2A)If on an application in that behalf the Secretary of State is satisfied that a worker employed or desiring to be employed is so affected by any physical injury or mental deficiency, or any infirmity due to age or any other cause, as to make it inappropriate for any terms and conditions of employment (other than those with respect to wages and holidays) fixed by an order under this Act to apply to him, the Secretary of State shall grant him, subject to any conditions he may determine, a permit dispensing, as from the date of the application or a later date specified in the permit, with a term or condition specified in the order, and while the permit is in force and any conditions to which the permit is subject are complied with, the terms and conditions fixed by the order shall be deemed to be observed.]

(3)Where [F1a permit has been granted (whether before or after the commencment of the M1Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1972)] under subsection (1) [F9or (2A)] of this section and at any time thereafter it appears to [F1the Secretary of State], whether on an application under this subsection or otherwise, that the worker to whom the permit relates is no longer so affected by any such incapacity as is mentioned in the said subsection (1) [F9or (2A)] as to be incapable of earning the minimum rate in question, [F1the Secretary of State] shall revoke the permit.

(4)Where . . . F2 it appears to [F1the Secretary of State], whether on an application under this subsection or otherwise, that by reason of any change in minimum rates of wages or in the circumstances of [F1a worker to whom a permit has been granted (whether before or after the commencement of the said Act of 1972) under subsection (1) [F10or (2A)] of this section] it is expedient to vary any condition specified in the permit, [F1the Secretary of State] may direct that the condition shall be varied in such manner as may be specified in the direction [F11and, in the case of a variation caused by a change made by an order under this Act in the minimum rates of wages, that variation shall take effect from a date specified in the direction, not being earlier than the date of the change].