Labour Ministry in Sunday re introduced three key labour bills - the Occupational Safety, Health &Working Conditions Code, the Industrial Relations Code, and the Code on Social Security in Lok Sabha on Saturday.

“These three bills have been re-introduced after incorporating 174 out of 233 recommendations given by Standing Committees,” Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said while moving the bills in the house. These three bills are part of four labour code envisaged incorporating 29 labour laws. First code on wages has already been enacted.

Occupational Safety, Health &Working Conditions Code

It has following objectives:

•To employ women in all establishments for all types of work. They can also work at night, that is, beyond 7 PM and before 6 AM subject to the conditions relating to safety, holiday, working hours and their consent

•To provide for issuing of appointment letter mandatorily by the employer of an establishment to promote formalisation in employment

•To make the provisions relating to Inter-State Migrant Workers applicable on the establishment in which ten or more migrant workers are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months and also provide that a Inter State Migrant may register himself as an Inter-State Migrant Worker on the portal on the basis of self-declaration and Aadhaar

•An Inter-State Migrant Worker has been provided with the portability to avail benefits in the destination State in respect of ration and availing benefits of building and other construction worker cess

•To make provision of "common license" for factory, contract labour and beedi and cigar establishments and to introduce the concept of a single all India license for a period of five years to engage the contract labour

•To enable the courts to give a portion of monetary penalties up to fifty per cent. to the worker who is a victim of accident or to the legal heirs of such victim in the case of his death

•To provide overriding powers to the Central Government to regulate general safety and health of persons residing in whole or part of India in the event of declaration of epidemic or pandemic or disaster

•To make provision for Social Security Fund for the welfare of unorganised workers

Code on Social Security, 2020

 It has following objectives:

•To extend social security to all employees and workers either in the organised or unorganised or any other sectors

•To provide for an establishment to be covered Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on voluntary basis even if the number of employees in that establishment is less than the threshold i.e. 20 and 10 respectively. 

•To define various expressions used in the Bill such as, "career centre", "aggregator", "gig worker", "platform worker", "wage ceiling" , etc. 

•To empower the Central Government to frame schemes for unorganised workers, gig workers and platform workers and the members of their families for providing benefits relating to Employees' State Insurance Corporation

•Provisions for maternity benefits such as prohibition from work during certain periods, provision of nursing breaks, crèche facility, claim for maternity benefits, etc.

•To empower the Central Government to frame schemes for the purposes of providing social security benefits to self-employed workers or any other class of persons 

•To provide that in the case of an employee employed on fixed term employment or a deceased employee, the employer shall pay gratuity on pro rata basis and not on the basis of continuous service of five years

•To provide for establishment and maintenance of separate accounts under social security fund, for the welfare of unorganised workers, gig workers and platform workers

 

Industrial Relations Code

 It proposes:

•To define “workers” which includes the persons in supervisory capacity getting wages up to Rs 18,000 a month or an amount as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time

•To provide for fixed term employment with the objective that the employee gets all the benefits like that of a permanent worker (including gratuity), except for notice period after conclusion of a fixed period, and retrenchment compensation. The employer has been provided with the flexibility to employ workers on fixed term basis on the basis of requirement and without restriction on any sector

•To provide that the commencement of conciliation proceedings shall be deemed to have commenced on the date of the first meeting held by the conciliation officer in an industrial dispute after the receipt of the notice of strike or lock-out by the conciliation officer

•To prohibit strikes and lock-outs in all industrial establishments without giving notice of fourteen days

•To provide for the obligation on the part of industrial establishments pertaining to mine, factories and plantation having three hundred or more workers to take prior permission of the appropriate Government before lay-off, retrenchment and closure with flexibility to the appropriate Government to increase the threshold to higher numbers, by notification

•To set up a re-skilling fund for training of retrenched workers with contribution of the employer of an amount equal to 15 days last drawn by the worker.

 

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