Appended below is the Pan India Compliance calendar for the month of November 2021, employer is under obligation to contribute towards some of the above-mentioned compliances for the welfare of the employees. Each of these compliances is again governed by a set of rules and formulas. It is proven to be a deliberate attempt to violate the provisions of the law, there could be imprisonment of the employer. Please, comply with the same in time to avoid any future non-compliance so that hefty penalties and fines are not charged by the respective dept
The Labour Department of Delhi on 15th November 2021 has published the Delhi Shops and Establishments (Amendment) Rules, 2021, through which the application for registration of establishment and the manner of notifying changes shall be made through online.
As per the amendment under rule 3, the occupier of the establishment, within 90 days of the commencement of work of his establishment shall apply for the registration under the Act, online on the Shop and Establishment Portal of Labour Department.
On submission of application online on the Shop & Establishment portal of Labour Department, Government of NCT of Delhi, the registration certificate shall be generated online in Form C under rule 4.
Further, the occupier shall notify any change in respect of any information under sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Act within 30 days after such change has taken place, online, on the Shop & Establishment Portal of Labour Department, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
In Schedule- I and Schedule- II which specifies “under rule 3 & 5” & “under rule 6“respectively, has been omitted.
• Form G which specifies “REGISTER OF WAGES / DEDUCTIONS / OVERTIME/ ADVANCES”, has been substituted.
• Form H & I “Register of Employment and Remuneration of Employees” & “Register of Leave”, has been omitted.
ESIC vide circular No. T-11/13/56/02/2020 Rev.II has acknowledged to all regional and sub-regional offices regarding the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India that payment of conveyance allowance as per the present case does not fall under the definition of term “wages” which means “all remuneration paid or payable in cash to an employee, if the terms of the contract of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled and includes [any payment to an employee in respect of any period of authorized leave, lock-out, a strike which is not illegal or layoff and] other additional remuneration if any, [paid at intervals not exceeding two months], but does not include
(a) any contribution paid by the employer to any pension fund or provident fund, or under this Act ;
(b) any traveling allowance or the value of any traveling concession ;
(c) any sum paid to the person employed to defray special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment; or
(d) any gratuity payable on discharge”.
Therefore, concluded that conveyance allowance shall not form part of the wages of the employees and the judgment hold good with effect from 8th March 2021. Please refer to the circular and enclosed judgment for more details.
Our Views
ESIC Circular: Honorable Supreme Court Decision on Conveyance in ESIC v/s Texmo Industries
The Circular issued by the ESI Corporation, which is attached along with is contradictory. They have made Conveyance Exempt from the 8th of March 2021, which is the date of the Supreme Court Order. The Supreme Court cannot amend the law but can throw clarity on the law and therefore the clarity comes in effect from the time the ESI Act, 1948 (As amended) was enacted.
Conveyance is not a wage that has been determined by the Honorable Supreme Court and this position is now accepted by the ESI Corporation.
Now, the establishment is left with 2 options.
Option 1
Exempt Conveyance as a wage, this will lower the contribution of the existing employees but also bring fresh employees, whose gross including conveyance was higher than Rs. 21000.00, into the coverage of the ESIC as their gross after deduction of conveyance may be less than Rs. 21000.00. This will be an expensive proposition for the employer.
Option 2
Merge Conveyance with Special allowance or Supplementary Allowance or any other allowance being paid monthly. Delete the word Conveyance from the nomenclature. This will maintain the status quo. There will be no change in the contribution values and no new employee will fall under coverage.
ESIC vide circular No.P-11/12/Misc./1/2019 (M)- Rev.II has acknowledged to regional directors and sub-regional offices that employee state insurance contribution for the month of October 2021 can be remitted up to 30th November 2021 instead of 15th November 2021 and return of contribution for the period of April 2021 to September 2021 may be filed up to 15th December 2021 instead of 11th November 2021 on account of system breakdown in information technology system. Therefore, employers may take note of the directions and comply accordingly. Please refer to the notification for more details
Whereas the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi had last revised the minimum rates of wages in Schedule Employments under the Minimum Wages 12(142)/02/MW/VII/3636 dated 22/10/2019. And whereas, in the abovementioned notification, it was stipulated that the Dearness Allowance will be payable on the basis of six monthly average index numbers of January to June and July to December, on 1st April and 1St October respectively.
The following revised rates of minimum wages shall be applicable in respect of unskilled, semiskilled and skilled categories in all schedules employment:-
The following rates of minimum wages shall be applicable in respect of Clerical and Supervisory Staffs in all Scheduled employments:
Appended below is the Pan India Compliance calendar for the month of November 2021, employer is under obligation to contribute towards some of the above-mentioned compliances for the welfare of the employees. Each of these compliances is again governed by a set of rules and formulas. It is proven to be a deliberate attempt to violate the provisions of the law, there could be imprisonment of the employer. Please, comply with the same in time to avoid any future non-compliance so that hefty penalties and fines are not charged by the respective dept.
The government has approved an 8.5% rate of interest on employees’ provident fund for 2020-21 fiscal,. Just ahead of Diwali, this is good news for over five crore subscribers of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). The 8.5% rate of interest on provident fund deposits for the last financial year was decided by the EPFO’s apex decision-making body Central Board of Trustees (CBT) headed by the Labour Minister in March this year.
“The rate of interest on EPF for 2020-21 has been ratified by the Ministry of Finance and now it would be credited into the accounts of over five crore subscribers.”
