The Karnataka High Court has upheld regular wage protection for nurses who were formally labelled stipendiary workers but performed full-time staff-nurse duties for years.
The medical institute argued that the nurses were contractual appointees receiving fixed stipends rather than salary. The Court focused on the substance of their work and the state’s 2019 policy, finding that prolonged performance of regular responsibilities could not justify materially inferior pay.
The institute must pay them at the applicable regular rate and cannot discontinue their services until recruitment to permanent staff-nurse posts is completed. The decision limits the use of temporary labels to sustain unequal wages where the work, hours and institutional need are effectively permanent.
