Practical Indian tax, financial reporting, labour, state law and business compliance guides for CAs, accountants and businesses.
A contractor’s licence and a signed service agreement do not, by themselves, answer whether a business can engage contract labour for a particular activity. The first question is what the establishment actually exists to do. The next is whether the contract-labour provisions apply and whether the proposed arrangement meets the activity rules and any applicable exception.
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Tamil Nadu’s permanent-status law requires an employer to look beyond the word temporary in an appointment letter. In a covered industrial establishment, the statutory test concerns a workman’s continuous service of 480 days within twenty-four calendar months. Repeated short renewals do not, by themselves, answer whether that test has been met.
By Team assureOfficeThe word warehouse does not decide Mathadi coverage. A Maharashtra business must identify the actual manual operations, the current scheduled employment, the goods handled, the geographical scope of the relevant scheme and the workers performing the work. A general labour registration or a contractor’s licence does not replace that assessment.
By Team assureOfficeSometimes, but ordinary payroll records are not the complete answer. A Kerala business must identify the work, the establishment’s statutory coverage, the exact location and whether the relevant welfare scheme operates there. It must then examine the status and registration of the people who will perform the work.
By Team assureOfficeClosing a branch is a business decision with employment consequences. Asking everyone to submit a resignation does not establish that the resulting exits were voluntary, and cancelling the branch’s registration does not settle worker liabilities. The employer must first identify what is actually happening to the undertaking and each affected employment relationship.
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Arrange emergency help first. An injured worker should not wait while the site owner and contractor argue about payroll ownership, an insurance endorsement or who will pay the ambulance charge. Secure the immediate area, obtain appropriate medical assistance and record the essential chronology accurately.
By Team assureOfficeWorking from home does not, by itself, remove statutory maternity protection. The employer must identify the employment relationship, establishment coverage and the applicable benefit route. The fact that a woman can perform some work online is not a reason to replace maternity leave with a laptop and ordinary targets.
By Team assureOfficeA shared crèche can form part of a lawful arrangement. The Code on Social Security expressly permits common facilities, including those provided by a private entity, public body, organisation or group of establishments pooling resources. The employer must nevertheless establish that the arrangement meets the applicable requirements and is genuinely available to its employees.
By Team assureOfficePaying a stipend does not, by itself, make a person a statutory apprentice. Nor does a college letter automatically create an apprenticeship under the Apprentices Act, 1961. A Maharashtra employer needs to establish the legal training route, the required contract and registration process, and the training actually delivered before relying on an apprentice-specific exclusion.
By Team assureOfficeA platform should examine the effect of an account restriction before calling it a temporary technical measure. Karnataka’s gig-worker legislation defines termination broadly enough to include materially restricting access, blocking an account and suspension, regardless of duration. A two-day restriction can therefore require a legal assessment even though the worker’s contract remains on the system.
By Team assureOfficeA Jaipur restaurant purchasing deliveries and a company operating a delivery marketplace do not necessarily have the same role. Yet calling the restaurant a customer is not enough to settle its position. The Rajasthan legislation uses a broad aggregator definition, including entities coordinating with aggregators to provide services. Classification needs the actual operating arrangement, not only the heading on an invoice.
By Team assureOfficeESI should not normally stop in the same month merely because a covered employee receives an increment above the applicable wage ceiling. A current notification preserves employee status for the remainder of the contribution period where wages cross the ceiling after the period begins. Payroll must first establish coverage at the start of the period and then distinguish an increment, retrospective revision and correction of an earlier error.
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