Employer [Section 2(e)] :

“Employer” means any person who employs, whether directly or through another person, or whether on behalf of himself or any other person, one or more employees in any scheduled employment in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, and includes, except, in sub-section (3) of Section 26 –

(i) in a factory where there is carried on any scheduled employment in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, any person named under clause (f) of sub-section (1) of Section 7 of the Factories Act, 1948, as manager of the factory;

(ii) in any scheduled employment under the control of any Government in India in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, the person or authority appointed by such Government for the supervision and control of employees or where no person of authority is so appointed, the Head of the Department;

(iii) in any scheduled employment under any local authority in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act the person appointed by such authority for the supervision and control of employees or where no person is so appointed, the Chief Executive Officer of the local authority;

(iv) in any other case where there is carried on any scheduled employment in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, any person responsible to the owner of the supervision and control of the employees or for the payment of wages.

The definitions of “employees” and “employer” are quite wide. Person who engages workers through another like a contractor would also be an employer (1998 LLJ I Bom. 629). It was held in Nathu Ram Shukla v. State of Madhya Pradesh A.I.R. 1960 M.P. 174 that if minimum wages have not been fixed for any branch of work of any scheduled employment, the person employing workers in such branch is not an employer with the meaning of the Act. Similarly, in case of Loknath Nathu Lal v. State of Madhya Pradesh A.I.R. 1960 M.P. 181 an out-worker who prepared goods at his residence, and then supplied them to his employer was held as employee for the purpose of this Act.