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Govt May Consolidate Pvt Sector Employee Benefits

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Work in Progress Revamp of social security laws on the cards to help improve ease of doing business, build support for labour reforms
Private sector workers need not stay on in their jobs for fear of losing gratuity benefits and working women can look forward to six months of maternity leave soon as part of the government's plan to consolidate all employee benefits.
The government is looking at a complete overhaul of social security laws to substantially enhance benefits to the country's more than 400 million workers besides improving the ease of doing business in India, measures it sees as building support for other labour reforms in the works, said a senior official.
The labour ministry is finalising the social security code that would amalgamate half a dozen laws to simplify social security regulations besides allowing working women to avail longer maternity leave and make gratuity portable.
The key laws that will be subsumed under such a social security code include the Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1952, the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, the Employees' Compensation Act, 1923, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
“The government is firm on its commitment to simplify labour laws in a way that it benefits both the workers and the employers and at the same time are simple enough for employers to implement,“ the official told ET on condition of anonymity . The ministry will hold tripartite consultations with trade unions, employers' representative and state government officials on Tuesday to apprise them of the changes being made to the concerned Acts to sync them with the government's vision for enhanced social security cover, the official said.
The labour code on social security is the third in the series of four codes that the government wants to introduce to reduce 44 central labour laws. The ministry has already concluded tripar and the two are likely to go to the cabinet soon, after which the ministry hopes to present them in parliament during the winter session that starts November 26.
Amendments to the maternity Act could double maternity leave for working women to six months, an old demand of the ministry of women and child development. Currently , companies are legally required to grant 12 weeks of maternity leave though several offer additional leave and other benefits to encourage more women to join the workforce.
The government could also agree to the longstanding demand of trade unions to scrap the requirement that employees serve at least five years in a single workplace to be eligible for gratuity through an amendment to the Gratuity Act.
The Economic Times, New Delhi, 23rd Nov. 2015

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