THE GARMENT CLEANING WORKS vs ITS WORKMEN

The Supreme Court upheld the validity of a gratuity scheme framed by the Industrial Tribunal under Section 12(5) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Court ruled that a gratuity scheme based on units is valid and does not need to be industry-cum-region based. It also validated the ten-year minimum service requirement for gratuity claims and affirmed that an employee should not be entirely deprived of gratuity benefits due to misconduct, thus upholding the clause regarding misconduct in the scheme.