Labour Compliance

Maintenance of Registers under Different Labour Laws

There is a long list of labour compliance required by the employer, including the maintenance of registers according to various Labour Laws. There were around 56 registers and records that were mandatory to be maintained under the labour laws making it a very complex and tedious task for the employer resulting in the penalties of non-compliance

To promote the idea of Ease of Doing Business, a notification was issued by the Central Government on 21 February 2017, which introduced the Ease of Compliance To Maintain Register under Various Labour Law Rules, 2017^[1] and reduced the number of registers from 56 to just five.

The article discusses the registers to be maintained by the employer under various labour laws to help the employer to carry out the operations of the establishments smoothly.

Registers to be maintained by the Employer under which Labour Laws?

According to the Ease of Compliance in the maintenance of registers under Various Labour Laws Rules, which are as follows

• BOCW  Act 1996;
• CLRA Act 1970;
•  Equal Remuneration Act 1976;
•  Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1979;
• Mines Act 1952;
•  Minimum Wages Act 1948;
• Payment of Wages Act 1936;
• Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act 1976; and
• Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1955

Maintenance of Registers by Employers

The registers mandatorily maintained by the Employer under the labour laws are as follows:

Employee Register

The employee register is maintained to keep a record of the details of the employees working in the establishment. Such a record is essential to avoid any suspicions with regard to the employees. Maintenance of Registers must be in the format as provided in FORM A, the contents of which are –

Details of Establishment

• Name of the Establishment – The name of the Establishment is necessary to check whether the establishment is registered under the prescribed legislation  
• Name of the Owner – as the name suggests, this column provides the name of the owner of the establishment. 
• Labour Identification Number (LIN) s a unique identification number issued to employers to simplify business regulations and bring transparency and accountability to labour inspections by various agencies and bodies under the administrative control of the Labour Ministry.

Details of Employees 

The employer must record the following employee information under the employee details section.

• Serial Number –
• Employee Code
• Name of the Employee (First, Last)
• Gender
• Gather/ Spouse Name
• Date of Birth
• Nationality
• Level of education
• Date of Joining
• Designation
• Category Address (HS/S/SS /US
• Mobile
• UAN
• PAN
• ESIC IP
• Aadhar Card
• Bank Account No.
• Name of the Bank
• IFSC Code
• Present Address
• Permanent Address
• Service Book No
• Date of Exit
• Reason for Exit
• Mark of Identification
• Specimen Signature / Thumb Print
• Remarks 

The employer must note that in case the employee is between the14 – 18 years then, and the nature of work, daily working hours and rest and intervals must be mentioned under this section.

Employee Register under the Mines Act

There is a different format for maintenance of registers under the Mines Act, whose contents are enlisted below.

• Serial Number in Employee Register
• Name
• Token Number Issued
• Date of the first appointment with Current Employer
• Certificate of Age/ Fitness Taken – This column is provided by workers between the ages of 14 and 18.
• Place of Employment UG/ Open Cast / Surface 
• Details regarding the Certificate of Vocational Studies
• Details of Nominee 
• Emergency Contact Details 
• Remarks 
• Sign of the Mines Manager  

Wage Register 

Maintenance of registers as per FORM B of the Act to streamline the wages paid to the workers, including the basic pay, wage rate, and deductions ESIC, among others. The format of the same is provided below.

Rate of Wages and Date 

This section contains columns such as Basic Pay, daily allowance, and overtime based on the employee category, such as skilled, highly skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled.

Details of Establishment 

This section contains the same information as mentioned earlier. 

Wage Period 

The wage period provides information about the date from which the wage is calculated, depending on daily, fortnight, monthly, weekly or piece rate basis.

Wage Details 

This column contains information such as –

• Serial No. of Employee in Employee Register 
• Name of Employee 
• Wage Rate  
• No. of days worked 
• Overtime hours worked 
• Basic 
• Special Basic 
• Dearness Allowance 
• Payment Overtime 
• Others 
• Total 
• HRA 

Deductions 

The deductions are PF, ESIC, Society, Income Tax, insurance, and recoveries. After which, the total of the deductions is mentioned in the next column for calculating net payment and Employer Share PF Welfare Fund. Next, the Bank transaction ID, Payment Date, and remarks are mentioned.

It must be noted that the details of paid leave wages under the Mines Act should be shown in the others column and mentioned explicitly in the Remarks column.

Register of Loan / Recoveries 

Apart from the basic information such as the name of establishment LIN, name and serial no of the employee, maintenance of registers record the following entries;

• Type of Recoveries like damage, loss, fine, advance or loan 
• Particulars of Loan
• Date of loan/damage 
• Amount
• Details of show cause notice whether issued 
• Explanation heard in the presence of 
• No. of instalments
• First Month, Year 
• Late month/year 
• Date of complete Recovery 
• Remarks 

This is applicable only in case of damage loss or fine.  

Attendance Register 

Maintenance of registers for recording attendance is essential to track the days the worker has worked, which facilitates the calculation of wages accurately. The contents of this form are enlisted as follows-

• Relay or set work 
• Place of Work 
• Date in and out 
• Summary no. of days 
• Remarks no. of hours 
• Signature of the Register Record Keeper

The employer must note the following 

• Relays and place of work in case of mines is only underground, opencast and surface 
• If the employee is not present, the following must be mentioned in the register 
• R for Rest 
• L for Paid Leave 
• A for Absent 
• C for Closed Establishment  
• for Weekly Off 

Register of Rest /Leave/ Leave Wages 

Maintenance of registers as per FORM E of the rules is specifically for the Mines Act 1952 and other relevant acts and rules. The format for the same is provided below –

• Details of Establishment as prescribed 
• No. of Days Worked 
• Compensatory rest includes opening balance, added, not allowed, rest availed, and closing balance.
• Details of Earned leaves 
• It contains all the above information except the Rest Not allowed column.
• Medical Leave 
• Details of other Leaves 

The register of January of the year in question must show the leave opening balance for the year, and the month of December should show the closing balance for the same. 

Conclusion 

Maintenance of registers is a statutory responsibility of the employer, which should be adhered to by entities according to the changing dynamics and requirements of the industry. The Government has introduced changes in these requirements by minimizing the registers to 5 from the previous 56. These changes boosted the entrepreneurial spirit and promoted “Ease of Doing Business” among upcoming businesses. These minimized compliance requirements are expected to work in the direction of streamlining information and reducing the duplicity of records.

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