The government of India strengthens rules to protect the rights of contractual employees.
Ms. Arti Ahuja, Union Labour Secretary, recently expressed concern about the underpayment of contractual workers engaged in State and UT offices through outsourcing agencies due to unauthorized wage deductions made by manpower hiring agencies in a letter addressed to Chief Secretaries/Administrators of all States and UTs.
The government of India strengthens rules to protect the rights of contractual employees.
To protect the interests of contractual employees, the Ministry of Labour and Employment has recently inserted six legislative responsibilities on the GeM (Government e-Marketing) platform in contracts for employing people through outsourcing contractors in Government of India offices.
Ms. Arti Ahuja, Union Labour Secretary, recently expressed concern about the underpayment of contractual workers engaged in State and UT offices through outsourcing agencies due to unauthorised wage deductions made by manpower hiring agencies in a letter addressed to Chief Secretaries/Administrators of all States and UTs.
She also expressed concern over the agencies’ delayed delivery of monthly salary to such workers, as well as the workers’ minimal deposit of EPF and ESIC contributions.
To avoid such exploitation of workers employed by outsourcing agencies in state and UT government offices, the Union Labour Secretary has advised Chief Secretaries/Administrators of all states and UTs to include the following statutory obligations in their contracts in order to protect workers’ rights:
EPF and ESIC contributions must be made by agencies on schedule.
The service provider/contractor is accountable for paying contract labour wages that are not less than the minimum wage as determined by the competent government.
The service provider or contractor shall not make any unauthorised deductions from contract labor’s wages.
According to the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act of 1970, the service provider or contractor is responsible for ensuring that contract labour salaries are paid on time. The major employer or buyer must ensure that the service provider or contractor pays the contract labour on schedule. If the service provider/contractor fails to pay the wages on time or makes a short payment, the principal employer/buyer must pay the wages directly to the contract workforce and reclaim the money from the service provider/contractor.
The service provider/contractor is responsible for paying bonuses to contract labour in accordance with the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and is reimbursed by the customer.
- The service provider/contractor is accountable for paying a proportionate gratuity to contract labour who has provided continuous service in accordance with the Payment of Gratuity Act of 1972.
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