1Sub:EPFO Circular dated 8th October 2013
Recent Circular No C.III/110001/4/3 (71)Misc./2013/DL/12802 dated 8th October 2013 issued by EPFO to all Regional P.F. Commissioners is creating ripples amongst the PF remitters and most particularly the Staffing Industry.
On going through the circular we find that the circular is addressed to various Government Departments, the Undertakings and Autonomous bodies (Principal Employers-PE )for the activities like watch-ward, Housekeeping, data entry, etc. The intent of the circular appears to be aimed at Principal employers who pay the contribution on the whole of the salary or Rs.6,500/- whichever is lower and make that component part of the payment to the Contractor whereas the Contractor splits up the wage and deposit the contribution on a less basic salary. Therefore, the EPFO is asking PE’s to check up whether the contractors are depositing the contributions collected from the PE. Special attention may be made in para 5 & 7 of the Circular which is extracted below:
\" 5. Instances have come to notice that the placement agencies and security agencies, which provide guards and other personnel to Government Departments, Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies often take employer’s contribution on full wages from these employers and then bifurcate the wages of the personnel provided by them in to basic wages and various other allowances which do not form part of basic wages to evade the provident fund. This diversion of residual employer’s contribution tantamount to pilfering of provident fund money. Thus, Governments Departments, Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies, which settle the periodic bills of agencies and contractors, unwillingly become a party to this pilferage.
7. In this background, all the Regional Provident Fund Commissioners In-Charge of Regional/Sub Regional Offices are advised to start a dialogue with the Government Departments, Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies functioning under your jurisdiction about their duties and responsibilities while engaging personnel for watch-ward, housekeeping, data entry etc. through various agencies and contractors to check such pilferage of provident fund monies. The Officer-in-charge are also advised to collect the details of personnel engaged through various agencies and contractors from these Government Departments, Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies and check with the records available in their own offices about such agencies and contractors. Wherever pilfering of provident fund money is noticed, immediate action shall be initiated against the erring agencies and contractors to check such unhealthy practices harming the interest of the workers.”
In the light of the above the move of the Department is to ensure that there is no pilferage of PF contribution and to initiate action against the erring contractors more particularly serving various Government Departments, the Undertakings and Autonomous bodies who receive more from the PE and remit less or who do not remit at all .Those who are compliant need not fret on the Circular.
If you needs a copy of the Circular on request we can forward a copy.
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
From India, Pune
Dear All
In this part, we are continuing with the first reported case of outsourcing in India in the matter of GHATGE & PATIL CONCERN\'S EMPLOYEES\' UNION Vs. GHATGE & PATIL (TRANSPORTS) PRIVATE LTD. & ANR and it has been decided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India way back in 1968.
The most striking portion of the Judgment which is an eye opener and a biblical pronouncement .If an abridged version is provided the reader will not get the impetus of the actual words spoken by the Hon’ble Apex Court. Therefore, we extract the following relevant portion for your own comprehension:-
“ The apprehension of the Company is- that some of the regulatory provisions of the Act are incapable of being observed properly in the case of drivers and cleaners going on long journeys because there is no means of enforcing them. For example, the provisions about hours of work, hours of rest etc. are not easy to enforce enroute or at far off places. Therefore, rather than run the risk of losing the permit for want of compliance with the Motor Transport Workers Act, the Company has decided not to run transport trucks itself but to let them be run by independent hirers. There does not appear to be any bar in law to such action. Section 59 of the Motor Vehicles Act contemplates the transfer of permits with the permission of the Transport Authorities and this enables any person to whom a vehicle covered by the permit is transferred to get the right to use the vehicle in the manner authorized by the permit. Here the vehicle is not transferred but is only let out on hire and hence there is prima facie no need for permission. The Union made no attempt before us to establish that the inauguration of the contract system offended the Motor Vehicles Act or was prohibited under it. No objection to the system by the Authorities under the Motor Vehicles Act was proved in the case. The operators also seem to be happy because no operator appeared to complain and the only dissatisfaction has been registered by the Union, which apparently lost the allegiance of some of its former members and even office bearers. In view of the findings of the Tribunal, which we see no reason to disapprove, it must be held that the drivers voluntarily resigned and entered into the agreements since they apparently considered them to be more favourable than the terms of their former employment. In this view of the matter it is difficult to hold that the Tribunal was wrong in its conclusion that there was no ex- ploitation of the drivers. It is also equally true that there is no bar in law to the introduction of the system. The Union, however, contends that on the analogy of some cases of this Court in which contract labour was put down as unfair labour practice because it involved exploitation of labour, we should declare this system also to be harmful to the interests of labour. Contract labour was declared in this Court to be an unfair labour practice because the intention was to introduce a middle man to avoid observance of laws and to deny to labour the advantages it had acquired by bargaining or as a result of awards. Such is hardly the case here. The two systems were there for the drivers to choose. It is reasonable to think that the drivers must have chosen a system which was considered by them to be more beneficial to themselves. There was no compulsion for the drivers to resign their jobs and they did so voluntarily obviously thinking that the new system was more profitable to them. We cannot lose sight of the fact that some of the office-bearers of the Union were among the first to resign. Many of the drivers resigned the jobs and entered into agreements even after the dispute was taken up by the Union. The present case is, therefore, not analogous to the case of contract labour where employment of labour through a contractor or middleman put the labour at a disadvantage in collective bargaining and thus robbed labour of an important weapon in its armoury.
The matter of dispute no doubt referred in the second part to ex-drivers but it referred generally to the new system in the first. The Tribunal was wrong in thinking that the first part also referred to the ex-drivers (now operators). On the whole, however, it is clear that the Company has not done anything illegal. A person must be considered free to so arrange his business that he avoids a regulatory law and its penal consequences which he has, without the arrangement, no proper means of obeying. This, of course, he can do only so long as he does not break that or any other law. The Company has declared before us that it is quite prepared, if it was not already doing so, to apply and observe the provisions of the Motor Transport Workers Act in respect of its employees proper where such provisions can be made applicable. In view of this declaration we see no reason to interfere, because Parliament has not chosen to say that transport trucks will be run only through paid employees and not independent operators. The appeal fails but in the circumstances of the case we make no order as to costs.
In our next part in a nut-shell we will deal with questions that arose for consideration in the above case and the decision rendered .
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
From India, Pune
In this part, we are continuing with the first reported case of outsourcing in India in the matter of GHATGE & PATIL CONCERN\'S EMPLOYEES\' UNION Vs. GHATGE & PATIL (TRANSPORTS) PRIVATE LTD. & ANR and it has been decided by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India way back in 1968.
The most striking portion of the Judgment which is an eye opener and a biblical pronouncement .If an abridged version is provided the reader will not get the impetus of the actual words spoken by the Hon’ble Apex Court. Therefore, we extract the following relevant portion for your own comprehension:-
“ The apprehension of the Company is- that some of the regulatory provisions of the Act are incapable of being observed properly in the case of drivers and cleaners going on long journeys because there is no means of enforcing them. For example, the provisions about hours of work, hours of rest etc. are not easy to enforce enroute or at far off places. Therefore, rather than run the risk of losing the permit for want of compliance with the Motor Transport Workers Act, the Company has decided not to run transport trucks itself but to let them be run by independent hirers. There does not appear to be any bar in law to such action. Section 59 of the Motor Vehicles Act contemplates the transfer of permits with the permission of the Transport Authorities and this enables any person to whom a vehicle covered by the permit is transferred to get the right to use the vehicle in the manner authorized by the permit. Here the vehicle is not transferred but is only let out on hire and hence there is prima facie no need for permission. The Union made no attempt before us to establish that the inauguration of the contract system offended the Motor Vehicles Act or was prohibited under it. No objection to the system by the Authorities under the Motor Vehicles Act was proved in the case. The operators also seem to be happy because no operator appeared to complain and the only dissatisfaction has been registered by the Union, which apparently lost the allegiance of some of its former members and even office bearers. In view of the findings of the Tribunal, which we see no reason to disapprove, it must be held that the drivers voluntarily resigned and entered into the agreements since they apparently considered them to be more favourable than the terms of their former employment. In this view of the matter it is difficult to hold that the Tribunal was wrong in its conclusion that there was no ex- ploitation of the drivers. It is also equally true that there is no bar in law to the introduction of the system. The Union, however, contends that on the analogy of some cases of this Court in which contract labour was put down as unfair labour practice because it involved exploitation of labour, we should declare this system also to be harmful to the interests of labour. Contract labour was declared in this Court to be an unfair labour practice because the intention was to introduce a middle man to avoid observance of laws and to deny to labour the advantages it had acquired by bargaining or as a result of awards. Such is hardly the case here. The two systems were there for the drivers to choose. It is reasonable to think that the drivers must have chosen a system which was considered by them to be more beneficial to themselves. There was no compulsion for the drivers to resign their jobs and they did so voluntarily obviously thinking that the new system was more profitable to them. We cannot lose sight of the fact that some of the office-bearers of the Union were among the first to resign. Many of the drivers resigned the jobs and entered into agreements even after the dispute was taken up by the Union. The present case is, therefore, not analogous to the case of contract labour where employment of labour through a contractor or middleman put the labour at a disadvantage in collective bargaining and thus robbed labour of an important weapon in its armoury.
The matter of dispute no doubt referred in the second part to ex-drivers but it referred generally to the new system in the first. The Tribunal was wrong in thinking that the first part also referred to the ex-drivers (now operators). On the whole, however, it is clear that the Company has not done anything illegal. A person must be considered free to so arrange his business that he avoids a regulatory law and its penal consequences which he has, without the arrangement, no proper means of obeying. This, of course, he can do only so long as he does not break that or any other law. The Company has declared before us that it is quite prepared, if it was not already doing so, to apply and observe the provisions of the Motor Transport Workers Act in respect of its employees proper where such provisions can be made applicable. In view of this declaration we see no reason to interfere, because Parliament has not chosen to say that transport trucks will be run only through paid employees and not independent operators. The appeal fails but in the circumstances of the case we make no order as to costs.
In our next part in a nut-shell we will deal with questions that arose for consideration in the above case and the decision rendered .
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
From India, Pune
Dear All
In our earlier part we had captured the verbatim operative portion of the land mark Judgment of the Bench of Hon’ble Justices Mr HIDAYATULLAH, Mr M. BHARGAVA, Mr VASHISHTHA in the matter of GHATGE & PATIL CONCERN\'S EMPLOYEES\' UNION Vs. GHATGE & PATIL (TRANSPORTS) PRIVATE LTD. & ANR which is the first recorded case on outsourcing .In continuation of our earlier part we capture the following questions which arose for consideration in the case by the Hon’ble Court and the gist of the decision :
1) Whether an Independent contractor can be considered to be the workers of the Undertaking?
For this the Hon’ble Apex Court held that on account of the drivers resigning their jobs it cannot be concluded that they are employed in the Motor Transport Undertaking. If one sees the definition of word ‘employed’ term worker is used in the padagrim to keep the person in an employer’s service. Substantially, the Apex Court concluded that the outsourced individuals are independent as they hired the vehicle of the company for their own operation for which the company pays them on the basis of fixed hire per mile.
2) Whether there was any prohibition in introduction of the Contract system ?
For this the Apex Court came to the conclusion that there was no bar in law to the introduction of the contract system. A person must be considered free to so arrange his business that he avoids a regulatory law and its penal consequences which he has without the arrangement, no proper means of obeying. This, of course, he can do only so long as he does not break that or any other law.
3) The last and important question is as to whether the new system is an Unfair Labour Practice.
The Apex Court categorically held there was no exploitation of ex-employees and should resign had done so voluntarily and they get substantial benefit under the new system.
In our opinion the laissez –faire approach of the Hon’ble Supreme Court as early as 1968 is sonorous in the following words:
…. “On the whole, however, it is clear that the Company has not done anything illegal. A person must be considered free to so arrange his business that he avoids a regulatory law and its penal consequences which he has, without the arrangement, no proper means of obeying. This, of course, he can do only so long as he does not break that or any other law.”……..
In our next part we will deal with the post 1968 scenario and the evolution of the first ever Contract Labour Law in India .
From India, Pune
In our earlier part we had captured the verbatim operative portion of the land mark Judgment of the Bench of Hon’ble Justices Mr HIDAYATULLAH, Mr M. BHARGAVA, Mr VASHISHTHA in the matter of GHATGE & PATIL CONCERN\'S EMPLOYEES\' UNION Vs. GHATGE & PATIL (TRANSPORTS) PRIVATE LTD. & ANR which is the first recorded case on outsourcing .In continuation of our earlier part we capture the following questions which arose for consideration in the case by the Hon’ble Court and the gist of the decision :
1) Whether an Independent contractor can be considered to be the workers of the Undertaking?
For this the Hon’ble Apex Court held that on account of the drivers resigning their jobs it cannot be concluded that they are employed in the Motor Transport Undertaking. If one sees the definition of word ‘employed’ term worker is used in the padagrim to keep the person in an employer’s service. Substantially, the Apex Court concluded that the outsourced individuals are independent as they hired the vehicle of the company for their own operation for which the company pays them on the basis of fixed hire per mile.
2) Whether there was any prohibition in introduction of the Contract system ?
For this the Apex Court came to the conclusion that there was no bar in law to the introduction of the contract system. A person must be considered free to so arrange his business that he avoids a regulatory law and its penal consequences which he has without the arrangement, no proper means of obeying. This, of course, he can do only so long as he does not break that or any other law.
3) The last and important question is as to whether the new system is an Unfair Labour Practice.
The Apex Court categorically held there was no exploitation of ex-employees and should resign had done so voluntarily and they get substantial benefit under the new system.
In our opinion the laissez –faire approach of the Hon’ble Supreme Court as early as 1968 is sonorous in the following words:
…. “On the whole, however, it is clear that the Company has not done anything illegal. A person must be considered free to so arrange his business that he avoids a regulatory law and its penal consequences which he has, without the arrangement, no proper means of obeying. This, of course, he can do only so long as he does not break that or any other law.”……..
In our next part we will deal with the post 1968 scenario and the evolution of the first ever Contract Labour Law in India .
From India, Pune
LABOUR LAW REFORMS-STEP FOR THE FUTURE TO GENERATE EMPLOYMENT AND MAKE INDIA GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE
Recently the Union Cabinet on 31-07-2014 approved the changes to three important labour laws:
FACTORIES ACT:
Proposed changes in the Factories Act are:
(i) Employee’s safety at work place
(ii) Doubling the provisions of overtime from 50 hours a quarter to 100 hours in some cases and 75 hours to 125 hours in work of public interest
(iii) Increasing penalty for violation of the provision of the Act
(iv) Relaxing norms for workmen in some industries at night
(v) Reducing from 90 to 240 days the number of days, an employee needs to work to become eligible for the benefit like live with pay
APPRENTICES ACT:
The scope of employment as apprentices now restricted to Shop floors will be expanded to induction of Non-Engineers as Apprentices. There is a possibility of open the door of other sectors to Apprentices.
Stipend paid to Apprentices is also being increased and in the first year apprentices will get 70% what semi skilled workers get and the second year 80% and third year 90% and for those employees in small scale unit and the Government will pay 50% and the employer the balance.
LABOUR LAWS (EXEMPTION FROM FURNISHING
RETURNS AND MAINTAINING REGISTERS BY CERTAIN ESTABLISHMENTS)
ACT, 1988
The changes to the Act will enable Employer especially thousands of small scale industries to file just one return for compliance of the following labour laws
It will also exempt small-scale industries with less than 40 workers to comply separately with each of the laws. A single page return on compliance is what the amendment seeks to fulfill.The covered laws are as follows:
(1) The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
(2) The Weekly Holidays Act 1942
(3) The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
(4) The Factories Act, 1948
(5) The Plantations Labour Act, 1961
(6) The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees
(Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955
(7) The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970
(8) The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976
(9) The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
Stakes for the Contract Staffing Industry on the amendments:-
(i) Blue Collared Staffing will get an impetus on Overtime from Doubling the provisions of overtime from 50 hours a quarter to 100 hours in some cases and 75 hours to 125 hours in work of public interest .
(ii) Due to inclusion of Apprentices in the Non Engineering domain ie other sectors Staffing Industry will be benefited. .
(iii) Implementation of apprenticeship training scheme in those organisations which are operating business/trade in more than four States, will rest with Central Government.Therefore Contract Staffing Companies operating business/trade in more than four States will be benefited.
(iv) The proposal to allow registers/records to be maintained in computer, floppy, diskette or on other electronic media and return submitted through email can be proceeded with.
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
Recently the Union Cabinet on 31-07-2014 approved the changes to three important labour laws:
FACTORIES ACT:
Proposed changes in the Factories Act are:
(i) Employee’s safety at work place
(ii) Doubling the provisions of overtime from 50 hours a quarter to 100 hours in some cases and 75 hours to 125 hours in work of public interest
(iii) Increasing penalty for violation of the provision of the Act
(iv) Relaxing norms for workmen in some industries at night
(v) Reducing from 90 to 240 days the number of days, an employee needs to work to become eligible for the benefit like live with pay
APPRENTICES ACT:
The scope of employment as apprentices now restricted to Shop floors will be expanded to induction of Non-Engineers as Apprentices. There is a possibility of open the door of other sectors to Apprentices.
Stipend paid to Apprentices is also being increased and in the first year apprentices will get 70% what semi skilled workers get and the second year 80% and third year 90% and for those employees in small scale unit and the Government will pay 50% and the employer the balance.
LABOUR LAWS (EXEMPTION FROM FURNISHING
RETURNS AND MAINTAINING REGISTERS BY CERTAIN ESTABLISHMENTS)
ACT, 1988
The changes to the Act will enable Employer especially thousands of small scale industries to file just one return for compliance of the following labour laws
It will also exempt small-scale industries with less than 40 workers to comply separately with each of the laws. A single page return on compliance is what the amendment seeks to fulfill.The covered laws are as follows:
(1) The Payment of Wages Act, 1936
(2) The Weekly Holidays Act 1942
(3) The Minimum Wages Act, 1948
(4) The Factories Act, 1948
(5) The Plantations Labour Act, 1961
(6) The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees
(Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955
(7) The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970
(8) The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976
(9) The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
Stakes for the Contract Staffing Industry on the amendments:-
(i) Blue Collared Staffing will get an impetus on Overtime from Doubling the provisions of overtime from 50 hours a quarter to 100 hours in some cases and 75 hours to 125 hours in work of public interest .
(ii) Due to inclusion of Apprentices in the Non Engineering domain ie other sectors Staffing Industry will be benefited. .
(iii) Implementation of apprenticeship training scheme in those organisations which are operating business/trade in more than four States, will rest with Central Government.Therefore Contract Staffing Companies operating business/trade in more than four States will be benefited.
(iv) The proposal to allow registers/records to be maintained in computer, floppy, diskette or on other electronic media and return submitted through email can be proceeded with.
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
EPF Limit increased from Rs.6,500 to Rs.15,000/-
W.e.f 01.09.2014 Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment notification dated 22.08.2014 Employee Provident Fund (amendment scheme 2014) has enhanced the EPF ceiling limit from Rs.6,500/- to Rs.15,000/-.
Consequently, the changes have been made in the following:
EPF Scheme 1952
Wherever the words Rs.6,500/- occurs in the scheme it is now replaced by Rs.15,000/-.
Similarly amendments have been made to Employees Pension Scheme 1995, Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976.
Therefore Employer’s and Employee contribution will now be calculated on the revised ceiling of Rs.15,000/-.
Contract Staffing Pay-rolling policy will now require the changes to be made and the ceiling enhancement given effect to from 1-09-2014.
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
W.e.f 01.09.2014 Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment notification dated 22.08.2014 Employee Provident Fund (amendment scheme 2014) has enhanced the EPF ceiling limit from Rs.6,500/- to Rs.15,000/-.
Consequently, the changes have been made in the following:
EPF Scheme 1952
Wherever the words Rs.6,500/- occurs in the scheme it is now replaced by Rs.15,000/-.
Similarly amendments have been made to Employees Pension Scheme 1995, Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976.
Therefore Employer’s and Employee contribution will now be calculated on the revised ceiling of Rs.15,000/-.
Contract Staffing Pay-rolling policy will now require the changes to be made and the ceiling enhancement given effect to from 1-09-2014.
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
Hi
Recently a Manufacturing Company wanted to hire apprentices through their Staffing Service Provider.
The COO called his Procurement Head and told him to hire Apprentices for the shop floor .
Immediately the Procurement Head – Krishna lost no time and talked to the Head of Business of the Staffing Service Provider Company -Arjun and wanted a quote . Immediately Krishna and Arjun had an interesting conversation .
Krishna- I expect a good quote from you to maintain my margins.
Arjun- Yes, I need to give the quote on the Apprentice –Month Model strictly based on some new developments in the law.
Krishna:- What is that !
Arjun : Do you know -New Apprenticeship (Second Amendment) Rules, 2014 have come into effect on 22-09-2014.The whole pay out is now Apprentice friendly.
Krishna-You are getting on my nerves –Tell me how does it affect my procurement pricing.
Arjun- Hey Krishna listen –Now you need to pay the following rates to the seconded Apprentices:-
(1) The minimum rate of stipend per month payable to trade apprentices shall be follows, namely:—
(a) During the first year of training : Seventy per cent. of minimum wage of semi-skilled workers notified by the respective State or Union territory
(b) During the second year of training : Eighty per cent. of minimum wage of semi-skilled workers notified by the respective State or Union territory
(c) During the third and fourth year of training : Ninety per cent. of minimum wage of semi-skilled workers notified by the respective State or Union territory:
Krishna - Thanks a lot Arjun for this valuable info –But can you tell me about the old rates !.
Arjun – The old rates were like this:-
During the first year of training -Rs 2100/-per month
During the second year of training –Rs 2400/- per month
During the third year of training –Rs 2800/- per month
During the Fourth year of training –Rs 3100/- per month.
Krishna- Well if what you said is true .Now our CTC per Apprentice goes for a spin , I will need to get back to you after re-working my whole annual budget for Apprentices. I will also get a legal update from my Legal Team on these changes.
Arjun- Okay shall wait for your call.
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
Recently a Manufacturing Company wanted to hire apprentices through their Staffing Service Provider.
The COO called his Procurement Head and told him to hire Apprentices for the shop floor .
Immediately the Procurement Head – Krishna lost no time and talked to the Head of Business of the Staffing Service Provider Company -Arjun and wanted a quote . Immediately Krishna and Arjun had an interesting conversation .
Krishna- I expect a good quote from you to maintain my margins.
Arjun- Yes, I need to give the quote on the Apprentice –Month Model strictly based on some new developments in the law.
Krishna:- What is that !
Arjun : Do you know -New Apprenticeship (Second Amendment) Rules, 2014 have come into effect on 22-09-2014.The whole pay out is now Apprentice friendly.
Krishna-You are getting on my nerves –Tell me how does it affect my procurement pricing.
Arjun- Hey Krishna listen –Now you need to pay the following rates to the seconded Apprentices:-
(1) The minimum rate of stipend per month payable to trade apprentices shall be follows, namely:—
(a) During the first year of training : Seventy per cent. of minimum wage of semi-skilled workers notified by the respective State or Union territory
(b) During the second year of training : Eighty per cent. of minimum wage of semi-skilled workers notified by the respective State or Union territory
(c) During the third and fourth year of training : Ninety per cent. of minimum wage of semi-skilled workers notified by the respective State or Union territory:
Krishna - Thanks a lot Arjun for this valuable info –But can you tell me about the old rates !.
Arjun – The old rates were like this:-
During the first year of training -Rs 2100/-per month
During the second year of training –Rs 2400/- per month
During the third year of training –Rs 2800/- per month
During the Fourth year of training –Rs 3100/- per month.
Krishna- Well if what you said is true .Now our CTC per Apprentice goes for a spin , I will need to get back to you after re-working my whole annual budget for Apprentices. I will also get a legal update from my Legal Team on these changes.
Arjun- Okay shall wait for your call.
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Staffing & Recruiting Industry
Reference to the News Report in the Hindustan Times -Sat Nov 15-2014
Labour contractors to get permits within three days: Govt
PTI Mumbai, November 14, 2014
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday approved necessary changes in rules to enable applicants like labour contractors, traders and industrialists get necessary permits in three days.
"Now, those applying for permits under the Shops and Establishment license and permits to start factories, will get them in three days," an official release said.
Failure to grant permits within this period would be deemed as "permit granted", the release said.
Fadnavis has also decided to modify the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Rules, 1971 to enable a labour contractor to get registration permit within three days of application, it said.
Earlier, labour contractors used to get such permissions for a one-year period, but as per the latest norms, they would get these for an indefinite period.
Our View
This is a very good News and beginning for the Contract Staffing Industry in Maharashtra.We eagerly await the follow up action from the Maharashtra Govt Labour Department.
Labour contractors to get permits within three days: Govt
PTI Mumbai, November 14, 2014
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday approved necessary changes in rules to enable applicants like labour contractors, traders and industrialists get necessary permits in three days.
"Now, those applying for permits under the Shops and Establishment license and permits to start factories, will get them in three days," an official release said.
Failure to grant permits within this period would be deemed as "permit granted", the release said.
Fadnavis has also decided to modify the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Rules, 1971 to enable a labour contractor to get registration permit within three days of application, it said.
Earlier, labour contractors used to get such permissions for a one-year period, but as per the latest norms, they would get these for an indefinite period.
Our View
This is a very good News and beginning for the Contract Staffing Industry in Maharashtra.We eagerly await the follow up action from the Maharashtra Govt Labour Department.
Sub:- Labour Law environment is becoming compliance friendly for Contract Staffing Business
The Labour Law environment is becoming compliance friendly for Contract Staffing Business being part of the Indian Contract Staffing Industry. In the first stage of Labour law reforms the Central Government has gone ahead with a five point agenda.
The text of the Prime Minister’s announcement on 16th October 2014 has been officially released through PIB. The announcement centers on five points:
(1) A dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal:- This would allot Labour Identification Number to nearly 6 lakhs units and allow them to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws
(2) All-new Random Inspection Scheme:- This would utilize Information technology to eliminate human discretion in selection of units for Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection mandatory
(3) Universal Account Number [UAN] for EPF Subscribers: - This will enable 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, hassle-free and universally accessible.
(4) Apprentice Protsahan Yojana:- This will be mainly supporting manufacturing units and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training
(5)Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana:- This will introduce a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with details of two more social security schemes
Now let us analyze the takeaways for Contract Staffing Business .
Shram Suvidha Portal
The most important takeaway is the dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal. By this will be allotted Labour Identification Number and online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws can be adverted to.The salient features as indicated in the PIB Press Note are:-
Shram Suvidha Portal ( not yet operational) in central sphere to create a conducive environment for industrial development. The four main features of this Portal are:
a. Unique labour identification number (LIN) will be allotted to Units to facilitate online registration.
b. Filing of self-certified and simplified Single Online Return by the industry. Now Units will only file a single consolidated Return online instead of filing 16 separate Returns.
c. Mandatory uploading of inspection Reports within 72 hours by the Labour inspectors.
d. Timely redressal of grievances will be ensured with the help of the portal.
This will bring in the necessary ease in compliance of provisions related to labour and will be a step forward in promoting the ease of doing Contract Staffing Business .
The complete database available centrally at unified portal will also add to the informed policy process.
The portal will be operative in four central organizations namely Chief Labour Commissioner, Directorate General of Mines Safety, Employee Provident Fund and Employees’ State insurance Corporation. In this endeavor of the Ministry, complete information of all 11 lakh units for these organizations has been collected, digitized and de-duplicated reducing the total number to 6-7 lakh. It is proposed to allot LIN to all these 6-7 lakh units.
Random Inspection Scheme
The second takeaway is the benefit of the random inspection scheme. Computers generated targets and not the present form of targeting the employers for the sake of harassment and other collateral purposes will do the inspection of selected units.
Further, under all new random inspection schemes, within 72 hours of inspection, the inspection report of the inspectors who carried the inspection shall be uploaded in the specified portal.The highlights of the proposed scheme listed in the PIB Press Note are:-
Labour Inspection Scheme: So far, the units for inspection were selected locally without any objective criteria. To bring in transparency in labour inspection, a transparent Labour Inspection scheme is being developed. The four features of the inspection scheme are:
(i) Serious matters are to be covered under the mandatory inspection list.
(ii) A computerized list of inspections will be generated randomly based on pre-determined objective criteria.
(iii) Complaints based inspections will also be determined centrally after examination based on data and evidence.
(iv) There will be provision of Emergency List for inspection of serious cases in specific circumstances.
A transparent Inspection Scheme will provide a check on the arbitrariness in compliance mechanism. Immediately on inauguration, sms/email was sent to 1800 Labour inspectors of these enforcement agencies on behalf of the Prime Minister.
Portability of UAN-[EPF]
The third takeaway for Staffing Business is the portability of UAN whereby all Employees will be allotted one number that will be theirs for lifetime.
UAN will be linked with the bank account and other KYC details.
By this for the Contract Staffing Business , the earlier system of depending upon the declaration of the employee for exempting them from contribution will be regulated as if, if an employee is exempted, he will not have an UAN number at all.
The balance two items of Apprentice Protsahan Yojana and Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana are not relevant for as apprentice Protsahan Yojana will support manufacturing units. Similarly, Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana is for smart card for the workers in the unorganized sectors that mean that those who are covered by EPF will not come under Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.
Follow up Notification –
When the follow up notification is issued by the Ministry of Labour then the exact details and its working can be measured.
For the present, the most important points being the first three will be subject to the amendment to the three major labour laws that were presented to Parliament during the monsoon session of Parliament.
Once the amendment becomes law, the whole scheme will become clear for the Contract Staffing Business .
We need to record that again this implementation is in the Central Sphere i.e Central CLRA domain and for Staffing Business to benefit similar Amendments are to be replicated by the concerned State Government with reference to many compliance's in State based Labour Law enactments more particularly the Shops and Establishments Act of each and every State .
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Contract Staffing & Recruiting Industry
The Labour Law environment is becoming compliance friendly for Contract Staffing Business being part of the Indian Contract Staffing Industry. In the first stage of Labour law reforms the Central Government has gone ahead with a five point agenda.
The text of the Prime Minister’s announcement on 16th October 2014 has been officially released through PIB. The announcement centers on five points:
(1) A dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal:- This would allot Labour Identification Number to nearly 6 lakhs units and allow them to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws
(2) All-new Random Inspection Scheme:- This would utilize Information technology to eliminate human discretion in selection of units for Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection mandatory
(3) Universal Account Number [UAN] for EPF Subscribers: - This will enable 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, hassle-free and universally accessible.
(4) Apprentice Protsahan Yojana:- This will be mainly supporting manufacturing units and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training
(5)Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana:- This will introduce a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with details of two more social security schemes
Now let us analyze the takeaways for Contract Staffing Business .
Shram Suvidha Portal
The most important takeaway is the dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal. By this will be allotted Labour Identification Number and online compliance for 16 out of 44 labour laws can be adverted to.The salient features as indicated in the PIB Press Note are:-
Shram Suvidha Portal ( not yet operational) in central sphere to create a conducive environment for industrial development. The four main features of this Portal are:
a. Unique labour identification number (LIN) will be allotted to Units to facilitate online registration.
b. Filing of self-certified and simplified Single Online Return by the industry. Now Units will only file a single consolidated Return online instead of filing 16 separate Returns.
c. Mandatory uploading of inspection Reports within 72 hours by the Labour inspectors.
d. Timely redressal of grievances will be ensured with the help of the portal.
This will bring in the necessary ease in compliance of provisions related to labour and will be a step forward in promoting the ease of doing Contract Staffing Business .
The complete database available centrally at unified portal will also add to the informed policy process.
The portal will be operative in four central organizations namely Chief Labour Commissioner, Directorate General of Mines Safety, Employee Provident Fund and Employees’ State insurance Corporation. In this endeavor of the Ministry, complete information of all 11 lakh units for these organizations has been collected, digitized and de-duplicated reducing the total number to 6-7 lakh. It is proposed to allot LIN to all these 6-7 lakh units.
Random Inspection Scheme
The second takeaway is the benefit of the random inspection scheme. Computers generated targets and not the present form of targeting the employers for the sake of harassment and other collateral purposes will do the inspection of selected units.
Further, under all new random inspection schemes, within 72 hours of inspection, the inspection report of the inspectors who carried the inspection shall be uploaded in the specified portal.The highlights of the proposed scheme listed in the PIB Press Note are:-
Labour Inspection Scheme: So far, the units for inspection were selected locally without any objective criteria. To bring in transparency in labour inspection, a transparent Labour Inspection scheme is being developed. The four features of the inspection scheme are:
(i) Serious matters are to be covered under the mandatory inspection list.
(ii) A computerized list of inspections will be generated randomly based on pre-determined objective criteria.
(iii) Complaints based inspections will also be determined centrally after examination based on data and evidence.
(iv) There will be provision of Emergency List for inspection of serious cases in specific circumstances.
A transparent Inspection Scheme will provide a check on the arbitrariness in compliance mechanism. Immediately on inauguration, sms/email was sent to 1800 Labour inspectors of these enforcement agencies on behalf of the Prime Minister.
Portability of UAN-[EPF]
The third takeaway for Staffing Business is the portability of UAN whereby all Employees will be allotted one number that will be theirs for lifetime.
UAN will be linked with the bank account and other KYC details.
By this for the Contract Staffing Business , the earlier system of depending upon the declaration of the employee for exempting them from contribution will be regulated as if, if an employee is exempted, he will not have an UAN number at all.
The balance two items of Apprentice Protsahan Yojana and Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana are not relevant for as apprentice Protsahan Yojana will support manufacturing units. Similarly, Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana is for smart card for the workers in the unorganized sectors that mean that those who are covered by EPF will not come under Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana.
Follow up Notification –
When the follow up notification is issued by the Ministry of Labour then the exact details and its working can be measured.
For the present, the most important points being the first three will be subject to the amendment to the three major labour laws that were presented to Parliament during the monsoon session of Parliament.
Once the amendment becomes law, the whole scheme will become clear for the Contract Staffing Business .
We need to record that again this implementation is in the Central Sphere i.e Central CLRA domain and for Staffing Business to benefit similar Amendments are to be replicated by the concerned State Government with reference to many compliance's in State based Labour Law enactments more particularly the Shops and Establishments Act of each and every State .
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Legal Consultant for Indian Contract Staffing & Recruiting Industry
Sub: EPF Appellate Tribunal Bench at Bengaluru-Reg
The Government of India vide notification dated 7.11.2014 in S.O.2838(E) has constituted the Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal at Bengaluru ( for entertaining Appeal against the final orders of the EPF Authorities in respect of the establishments situated within the territories of State of Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Goa and Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar and Puducherry.
Also by the same notification, all pending cases before the Central Tribunal in New Delhi will stand transferred to the Bengaluru Tribunal.
Takeaway:
No necessity to go all the way to New Delhi to file the Appeal.Legal Redressal of EPFO orders becomes Employer friendly.
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
The Government of India vide notification dated 7.11.2014 in S.O.2838(E) has constituted the Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal at Bengaluru ( for entertaining Appeal against the final orders of the EPF Authorities in respect of the establishments situated within the territories of State of Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Goa and Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar and Puducherry.
Also by the same notification, all pending cases before the Central Tribunal in New Delhi will stand transferred to the Bengaluru Tribunal.
Takeaway:
No necessity to go all the way to New Delhi to file the Appeal.Legal Redressal of EPFO orders becomes Employer friendly.
With Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate -Labour & HR & Consumer Law Consultant -Chennai
Contract Staffing-Legal Knowledge base -EPF Act
Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, MOL&E through the PIB has come out with the following Press Note post the Second Round of Tripartite Consultations on March 31st, 2015 Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,1952 (EPF &MP Act) Amendments amongst the following stake holders:-
Prsence of : Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State, Labour & Employment (I/C) & Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, MOL&E
a.Trade Unions- Shri A.K. Padmanabhan, CITU, Shri A.D. Nagpal, HMS, Shri B.L Sachdeva, AITUC, Shri Ashok Singh, INTUC
b.Industry- Shri Sharad Patil, EFI (Employers Federation of India), Shri S.S. Patil, AIMA (All India Manufacturers Association), Shri Bhardwaj, Laghu Udhyog Bharati, Shri Sushant Singh, CII (Confederation of Indian Industries),
c-State Govts- Representatives of various state governments
The Second Round of Tripartite Consultations on Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,1952 (EPF &MP Act) Amendments was held on March 31st, 2015. Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State, Labour & Employment (I/C) chaired the second round of tripartite consultations on EPF & MP Act Amendments. The consultations gain greater importance in view of the new amendments proposed in the backdrop of the Union budget proposals impacting the functioning of EPFO.
Inaugurating the consultations, Shri Dattatreya briefly dwelt upon the major changes being mulled in the proposals. They include bringing down the minimum no. of employees required for coverage under the Act from the existing 20 to 10, doing away with the Schedule Head for coverage and bringing in a negative list instead, special provisions for encouraging the functioning of small-scale units, provisions for setting up of multiple Appellate Authorities under the Act, removing ambiguities in the implementation of the Act, ensuring greater clarity in the definitions under the Act, especially with regard to wages which qualify for deduction for the purposes of the Act, introducing greater transparency and accountability in the enforcement of the Act by having an objective inspection scheme, introducing a scheme for unorganized workers and providing a choice to the worker by giving an option to join NPS / EPFO, which is in tune with the proposals mentioned in the Union Budget.
Taking part in the discussions, the representatives of the employers’ associations and federations generally welcomed the various proposals contained in the amendments under consideration. They generally voiced the opinion that the introduction of NPS would mean greater choice for the worker. However, there were also views that NPS cannot match the benefits offered by EPFO and therefore, are not comparable. It was also felt that the amendments would help in sharpening the competitiveness of Indian Industry and would enable India to become a manufacturing hub. However, there was a need to further encourage the concessions granted to the small-scale industries. Increase of coverage also received wide acceptance, both from employers’ and employees’ side.
Opposing certain amendments proposed, representatives of the Trade Unions expressed reservations especially to the move to introduce NPS as a substitute to EPFO. They also expressed reservations regarding the inspection scheme which they argued brought about centralization in the decision making process which is contrary to the prevailing wisdom which favours decentralization.
Summing up the discussions, Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, MOL&E assured that the concerns of all stakeholders will be addressed when giving final touches to the legislative amendments. Further, the objective behind bringing in the changes is to further strengthen the delivery of social security benefits.
In his concluding remarks, Shri Dattatreya stressed upon the need to focus on the unorganized sector of the workforce which constitutes 93% of the total workforce. He said that the need of the hour is to include more segments of the workforce like Anganwadi works into the ambit of social security legislations. He also informed that the Ministry is contemplating issue of smart cards to the labour workforce so that social security benefits reach each intended beneficiary. He also assured that the Act would be amended taking into account the sensitivities of all concerned.
Shri Sharad Patil, EFI (Employers Federation of India), Shri S.S. Patil, AIMA (All India Manufacturers Association), Shri Bhardwaj, Laghu Udhyog Bharati, Shri Sushant Singh, CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), Shri A.K. Padmanabhan, CITU, Shri A.D. Nagpal, HMS, Shri B.L Sachdeva, AITUC, Shri Ashok Singh, INTUC were some of the notable representatives of employers’ associations and employees’ associations (trade unions) who took part in the deliberations in addition to the representatives of various state governments.
Our views:
The most important point in the Agenda was the move to introduce NPS as a substitute to EPFO which means that there has to be a an exemption provision introduced in the EPF Act to exempt those persons opting to switch over to NPS.The Govt has a duty to convince the Trade Unions and seek their consent so that the exemption provision when introduced has a smooth sailing in both Houses of Parliament.
Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate
Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, MOL&E through the PIB has come out with the following Press Note post the Second Round of Tripartite Consultations on March 31st, 2015 Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,1952 (EPF &MP Act) Amendments amongst the following stake holders:-
Prsence of : Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State, Labour & Employment (I/C) & Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, MOL&E
a.Trade Unions- Shri A.K. Padmanabhan, CITU, Shri A.D. Nagpal, HMS, Shri B.L Sachdeva, AITUC, Shri Ashok Singh, INTUC
b.Industry- Shri Sharad Patil, EFI (Employers Federation of India), Shri S.S. Patil, AIMA (All India Manufacturers Association), Shri Bhardwaj, Laghu Udhyog Bharati, Shri Sushant Singh, CII (Confederation of Indian Industries),
c-State Govts- Representatives of various state governments
The Second Round of Tripartite Consultations on Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,1952 (EPF &MP Act) Amendments was held on March 31st, 2015. Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State, Labour & Employment (I/C) chaired the second round of tripartite consultations on EPF & MP Act Amendments. The consultations gain greater importance in view of the new amendments proposed in the backdrop of the Union budget proposals impacting the functioning of EPFO.
Inaugurating the consultations, Shri Dattatreya briefly dwelt upon the major changes being mulled in the proposals. They include bringing down the minimum no. of employees required for coverage under the Act from the existing 20 to 10, doing away with the Schedule Head for coverage and bringing in a negative list instead, special provisions for encouraging the functioning of small-scale units, provisions for setting up of multiple Appellate Authorities under the Act, removing ambiguities in the implementation of the Act, ensuring greater clarity in the definitions under the Act, especially with regard to wages which qualify for deduction for the purposes of the Act, introducing greater transparency and accountability in the enforcement of the Act by having an objective inspection scheme, introducing a scheme for unorganized workers and providing a choice to the worker by giving an option to join NPS / EPFO, which is in tune with the proposals mentioned in the Union Budget.
Taking part in the discussions, the representatives of the employers’ associations and federations generally welcomed the various proposals contained in the amendments under consideration. They generally voiced the opinion that the introduction of NPS would mean greater choice for the worker. However, there were also views that NPS cannot match the benefits offered by EPFO and therefore, are not comparable. It was also felt that the amendments would help in sharpening the competitiveness of Indian Industry and would enable India to become a manufacturing hub. However, there was a need to further encourage the concessions granted to the small-scale industries. Increase of coverage also received wide acceptance, both from employers’ and employees’ side.
Opposing certain amendments proposed, representatives of the Trade Unions expressed reservations especially to the move to introduce NPS as a substitute to EPFO. They also expressed reservations regarding the inspection scheme which they argued brought about centralization in the decision making process which is contrary to the prevailing wisdom which favours decentralization.
Summing up the discussions, Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, MOL&E assured that the concerns of all stakeholders will be addressed when giving final touches to the legislative amendments. Further, the objective behind bringing in the changes is to further strengthen the delivery of social security benefits.
In his concluding remarks, Shri Dattatreya stressed upon the need to focus on the unorganized sector of the workforce which constitutes 93% of the total workforce. He said that the need of the hour is to include more segments of the workforce like Anganwadi works into the ambit of social security legislations. He also informed that the Ministry is contemplating issue of smart cards to the labour workforce so that social security benefits reach each intended beneficiary. He also assured that the Act would be amended taking into account the sensitivities of all concerned.
Shri Sharad Patil, EFI (Employers Federation of India), Shri S.S. Patil, AIMA (All India Manufacturers Association), Shri Bhardwaj, Laghu Udhyog Bharati, Shri Sushant Singh, CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), Shri A.K. Padmanabhan, CITU, Shri A.D. Nagpal, HMS, Shri B.L Sachdeva, AITUC, Shri Ashok Singh, INTUC were some of the notable representatives of employers’ associations and employees’ associations (trade unions) who took part in the deliberations in addition to the representatives of various state governments.
Our views:
The most important point in the Agenda was the move to introduce NPS as a substitute to EPFO which means that there has to be a an exemption provision introduced in the EPF Act to exempt those persons opting to switch over to NPS.The Govt has a duty to convince the Trade Unions and seek their consent so that the exemption provision when introduced has a smooth sailing in both Houses of Parliament.
Regards
V.Sounder Rajan
Advocate
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