Bonus as wages for attachment exemption depends on whether the worker falls within the protected labourer class.

Bonus may fall within "wages" for exemption from attachment under Section 60(1)(h) of the Code of Civil Procedure where it has become part of remuneration by statute, award, settlement, or contract, and is supported by the inclusive wage concept under the Payment of Wages Act and the Payment of Bonus Act. The protection, however, applies only to the wages of labourers or domestic servants. Because the record did not determine whether the claimants were labourers within that protected class, the matter required fresh factual finding before the attachment question could be resolved.

---

---

Issues: (i) whether bonus payable to an employee is included in "wages" for the purpose of exemption from attachment under Section 60(1)(h) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908; (ii) whether the appellants were labourers so as to claim the statutory protection against attachment, and whether the matter required fresh determination.

Issue (i): whether bonus payable to an employee is included in "wages" for the purpose of exemption from attachment under Section 60(1)(h) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: The definition of wages is not confined to a narrow or technical sense. Bonus may ordinarily be an ex gratia payment, but it can assume the character of wages where it is made permanent by statute, award, settlement, or the terms of employment. The inclusive definition in the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, and the statutory scheme of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, support the view that bonus can form part of remuneration. On that basis, bonus is capable of falling within wages for purposes of the exemption clause.

Conclusion: Bonus is not outside the concept of wages as a matter of law and may be protected under Section 60(1)(h) if the recipient otherwise satisfies the statutory class.

Issue (ii): whether the appellants were labourers so as to claim the statutory protection against attachment, and whether the matter required fresh determination.

Analysis: The exemption in Section 60(1)(h) is restricted to the wages of labourers and domestic servants. The record contained no finding on the nature of the appellants' work or whether it involved labour of the kind protected by the provision. That foundational question had to be decided before the attachment issue could be finally resolved.

Conclusion: The matter had to be remanded for a fresh finding on whether the appellants were labourers within the meaning of Section 60(1)(h).

Final Conclusion: The lower appellate order was set aside and the case was sent back for fresh disposal on the limited question whether the appellants fell within the protected class whose wages, including bonus, are exempt from attachment.

Ratio Decidendi: Bonus may be treated as wages where it has the statutory or contractual attributes of remuneration, but the attachment exemption under Section 60(1)(h) applies only if the recipient belongs to the protected class of labourers or domestic servants.

---