An appointment letter would provide a sort of documentary evidence and would help them claim their rights and benefits due to employees. An employer would be required to mention details such as salary, working hours etc. in the appointment letter.
The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has proposed the compulsory issuance of appointment letter to every employee including those in the unorganised sector. As a result, informal sector employees would be able to claim some benefits similar to those available to workers in the organised sector. This proposal was part of the package announced yesterday to help labour hit by the coronavirus related lockdown.
Mandatory issuance of appointment letter is a requirement under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019. This Code was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 23 July 2019. It was then referred to the Standing Committee on Labour on 7 October 2019. The Committee has submitted its report on the said Code on 11 February 2020. The Code is pending to be passed by the Lok Sabha and is not in force yet.
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According to experts, an appointment letter would provide a sort of documentary evidence of employment to an employee especially those working in the unorganised sector. Currently, there is no central law that requires mandatory issuance of appointment letter. However, some states do have laws which make it mandatory to provide details of employment in the appointment letter. This would help them claim their rights and the benefits due to them. As per the proposal which is part of the code, the employer would be required to mention details such as salary, working hours, amount of leave available in a year etc. in a prescribed format in the appointment letter.
Source: Economic Times
