HR & Labour Law Updates

Definition of wages As per the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, “basic wages” means all emoluments which are earned by an employee while on duty or on leave or on holidays with wages in either case in accordance with the terms of the contract of employment and which are paid or payable in cash to him. However, the Act excludes these two important emoluments following from the definition of Basic Wages or Salary: (i) the cash value of any food concession; (ii) any dearness allowance that is to say, all cash payments by whatever name called paid to an employee on account of a rise in the cost of living, house-rent allowance, overtime allowance, bonus, commission or any other similar allowance payable to the employee in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment All matters relating to PF ESIC, HR & Payroll Solution, Labour Laws Consulting and its subsequent matters regarding leave policy, leave rules, HR Compliance, are also advis...

  Employment Bonds in the Cases of Specialized Training Provided by the Company – Conditions for Their Validity Indian courts, however, have unequivocally held contracts containing restrictive covenants to be valid if the organization has spent significant resources on personnel training or skills enhancement of the employee. This proposition, however, comes with various caveats. After the perusal of various Supreme Court judgments, the Madras High Court in  Toshnial Brothers (Pvt) Ltd v E Eswarprasad & Ors   held that the existence of a legal injury accruing as a consequence of breach is a pre-requisite for claiming liquidated damages in accordance with section 74 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.  In other words, the employer must show a legal injury automatically resulting from the breach of the commitment to serve for a minimum period.According to the Court, a presumption of legal injury arises incases “where the employer or the management concerned was s...

The Code of Social Security, 2020 (CSS) The Code of Social Security, 2020 (CSS) which replaces 9 central laws dealing with social benefits for employees (including provident fund (EPF), insurance (ESIC), maternity, payment of gratuity etc.) received the President’s assent last Monday. The Ministry of Labour and Employment plans to publish the rules and implement all the codes by the end of 2020. While clarity on certain aspects under the CSS (such as rates of employees’ contributions, schemes for extending social benefits to the unorganised sector etc.) will only be available once the rules are issued, it is critical for employers and employees to assess the potential impact of the revised legal framework on their existing wage structure, gratuity payments and other social benefits. This article analyses some of the practical implications of the CSS on various stakeholders across all sections of the labour and industry spectrum.   How has the coverage of social security increa...

EPFO settles 1.37 lakh COVID-19 claims in less than 10 days The provision for a special withdrawal from the EPF Scheme to fight Covid-19 pandemic is part of the PMGKY scheme announced by the government and an urgent notification on the matter was made to introduce a para 68 L (3) of the EPF Scheme on 28th March 2020. Under this provision non-refundable withdrawal to the extent of the basic wages and dearness allowances for three months or up to 75% of the amount standing to member's credit in the EPF account, whichever is less, is provided. The member can apply for lesser amount also. This, being an advance, does not attract income tax deductions. Anticipating the huge surge in the demand, EPFO came out with a completely new software which has been developed from scratch and a receipt module for on-line receipt of the claims was introduced within 24 hours and deployed on 29th March 2020. Further, the application was required to be in paperless form to curtail any ph...

Submission of an online application for EPF Withdrawal Interestingly, the EPFO has very recently come up with the online facility of withdrawal, which has made the entire process more comfortable and less time-consuming. Prerequisite: To apply for the withdrawal of EPF online through the EPF portal, make sure that the following conditions are met: The UAN (Universal Account Number) is activated, and the mobile number used for activating the UAN is in working condition. The UAN is linked with your KYC, i.e. Aadhaar, PAN and the bank details along with the IFSC code. If the above conditions are met, then the requirement of attestation of the previous employer to carry out the process of withdrawal can be done away with. Steps to apply for EPF withdrawal online: Step 1:  Go to the UAN portal by clicking  here . Step 2:  Log in with your UAN and password and enter the captcha. Step 3:  Then, click on the tab ‘Manage’ and select KYC to check whether ...

Protection from sexual harassment at the work place It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that his/her employees, especially female employees, are protected while at work. All incidents of sexual harassment – regardless of how big or small they are or who is involved – require employers or managers to respond quickly and appropriately. Just because someone does not object to inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, it does not mean that they are consenting to the behaviour. An aggrieved woman can seek remedy under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. Sexual harassment is punishable under the Indian Penal Code The law mandates employers to formulate a policy which prohibits sexual harassment. The policy should be a part of the company’s service regulations to provide a healthy working environment. The company’s policy must clearly define what exactly constitutes a sexual harassment and enumerate penalti...