The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, is applicable to establishments employing 10 or more people earning up to Rs 21,000 a month.
The parliamentary standing committee vetting the labour code on social security may make a strong pitch for the government’s effective intervention to ensure coverage of Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to an estimated 30 lakh migrant workers.
After reaching a consensus among the committee members, the proposal is likely to find place in the committee’s report, which will be submitted to the Lok Sabha secretariat this month, said committee chairman Bhartruhari Mahtab.
“Migrant workers, who are under contract and work for longer terms in different industrial clusters, should be given EPFO and ESIC benefits,” Mahtab said.
Of course, the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, is applicable to establishments employing 10 or more people earning up to Rs 21,000 a month. The EPFO is applicable to all units employing up to 20 workers. The Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, makes it mandatory for all establishments having 20 or more employees earning less than `15,000 monthly wage to join the EPF scheme. Others can also join in the scheme voluntarily. The house panel will ask for ways to ensure that these rules are indeed complied with and a much larger population of migrant workers are covered under these schemes.
Source: Financial Express
