Employee Benefits refers to
compensation provided in whole or in part to workers, by their employers, to
supplement their wages or salaries, but are not required by law. Some of these
benefits include the following: life insurance; health insurance; short-term
and long-term disability insurance; sick leave; paid vacation; pensions;
tuition reimbursement; relocation expenses; housing; profit sharing; child care
benefits; and other miscellaneous perks. Different benefits are treated
differently for federal tax purposes. Some are included in an employee’s gross
wages, while others are excluded. Some are even utilized as tax shelters.
Some employee benefits are offered only in part by the employer with the condition that the employee contribute to part of the cost as well, but the employee is not required to participate and may opt out instead. This is common with various medical health care coverage, retirement plans, disability programs, life insurance and retirement programs, such as 401K plans.
Providing employee benefits is not legally required by employers. However, the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) sets minimum standards for most private industry pension and health plans which employers provide voluntarily.
Additionally, once health care insurance benefits have been offered and utilized and an employee has been terminated, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) generally makes it mandatory for insurance companies who sponsored employers with 20 or more employees, to continue to provide coverage for the terminated employee for a limited time period, provided he/she can pay the full premium on his/her own (and for eligible individuals fired prior to May 31, 2010, they may continue at a reduced premium rate.)
Furthermore, although an employer is not required to provide paid time off (PTO), when one does and the employee separates from the company, there are often rules and regulations, which vary by state, governing the payment of any remaining PTO the employee still has. Attorneys experienced in the employee benefits area of law can assist employees in determining their rights to already established benefits, especially when they are in danger of or have been terminated.
Some employee benefits are offered only in part by the employer with the condition that the employee contribute to part of the cost as well, but the employee is not required to participate and may opt out instead. This is common with various medical health care coverage, retirement plans, disability programs, life insurance and retirement programs, such as 401K plans.
Providing employee benefits is not legally required by employers. However, the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) sets minimum standards for most private industry pension and health plans which employers provide voluntarily.
Additionally, once health care insurance benefits have been offered and utilized and an employee has been terminated, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) generally makes it mandatory for insurance companies who sponsored employers with 20 or more employees, to continue to provide coverage for the terminated employee for a limited time period, provided he/she can pay the full premium on his/her own (and for eligible individuals fired prior to May 31, 2010, they may continue at a reduced premium rate.)
Furthermore, although an employer is not required to provide paid time off (PTO), when one does and the employee separates from the company, there are often rules and regulations, which vary by state, governing the payment of any remaining PTO the employee still has. Attorneys experienced in the employee benefits area of law can assist employees in determining their rights to already established benefits, especially when they are in danger of or have been terminated.
The Maternity Benefit
Act, aims to regulate of employment of women employees in certain
establishments for certain periods before and after child birth and provides
for maternity and certain other benefits.
Managerial perspective
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, like the International Accounting
Standards Board, defines employee
benefits as forms of indirect expenses. Robert Klonoski, Adjunct Professor of
Business at Mary Baldwin
University, argued that, while accounting for benefits is a valuable
consideration, it does little to explain the reasons why organizations would
want to offer benefits to their employees. Managers
tend to view compensation and benefits in terms of their ability to attract and
retain employees, as well as in terms of their ability to motivate them.
Employees – along with potential
employees – tend to view benefits that are mandated by regulation differently
from benefits that are discretionary, that is, those that are not mandated but
are simply designed to make a compensation package more attractive. Benefits
that are mandated are thought of as creating employee rights or entitlements,
while discretionary benefits are intended to inspire employee loyalty and
increase job satisfaction. Based
on this, Klonoski proposed definitions of both discretionary and
non-discretionary benefits as a manager would view them: "Discretionary
employee benefits are those organizational programs and practices that are not
mandated by regulation or market forces, and that improve employee performance
by increasing job satisfaction and/or organizational loyalty. Non-discretionary
employee benefits are those organizational programs and practices that are
mandated by regulation or market forces, and that create an employee right,
entitlement, or expectation.
Viewed from this perspective, things
like casual dress codes, flextime, and telecommuting can be considered employee
"benefits" whether or not they produce an expense to the organization
offering them. If employees prefer to dress casually or to have flexible hours
or to work from home they may be inclined to seek and less likely to leave
employers that offer these things.
ndian labour law is
closely connected to the Indian independence movement, and the campaigns of passive resistance leading
up to independence. While India was under colonial rule by the British Raj, labour rights, trade unions, and freedom of association were all suppressed.
Workers who sought better conditions, and trade unions who campaigned through
strike action were frequently, and violently suppressed. After independence was
won in 1947, the Constitution of India of 1950 embedded a
series of fundamental labour rights in the constitution, particularly the right
to join and take action in a trade union, the principle of equality at work,
and the aspiration of creating a living wage with decent working conditions.
Contract
and rights
Scope of protection
See also: Taxation in India and Labour in India
Indian labour law makes a distinction between people who work in
"organised" sectors and people working in "unorganised
sectors".citation neede] The laws list the different industrial
sectors to which various labour rights apply. People who do not fall within
these sectors, the ordinary law
of contract applies.[citation needed
India's labour laws underwent a major update in the Industrial
Disputes Act of 1947. Since then, an additional 45 national laws expand or
intersect with the 1948 act, and another 200 state laws control the
relationships between the worker and the company. These laws mandate all
aspects of employer-employee interaction, such as companies must keep 6
attendance logs, 10 different accounts for overtime wages, and file 5 types of
annual returns. The scope of labour laws extend from regulating the height of
urinals in workers' washrooms to how often a work space must be lime-washed. Inspectors can examine wok in jirkspace anytime and declare
fines for violation of any labour laws and regulations.
Wage regulation
See also: Minimum Wages Act 1948 and Minimum
wage
The Payment of
Wages Act 1936 requires that
employees receive wages, on time, and without any unauthorised deductions.
Section 6 requires that people are paid in money rather than in kind. The law
also provides the tax withholdings the employer must deduct and pay to the
central or state government before distributing the wages.
The Minimum Wages
Act 1948 sets wages for the
different economic sectors that it states it will cover. It leaves a large
number of workers unregulated. Central and state governments have discretion to
set wages according to kind of work and location, and they range between as
much as ₹ 143 to 1120 per day for work in the
so-called central sphere. State governments have their own minimum wage
schedules.
The Payment of
Gratuity Act 1972 applies to
establishments with 10 or more workers. Gratuity is payable to the employee if
he or she resigns or retires. The Indian government mandates that this payment
be at the rate of 15 days salary of the employee for each completed year of
service subject to a maximum of ₹ 1000000.
The Payment of
Bonus Act 1965, which applies only to enterprises with over 20 people, requires
bonuses are paid out of profits based on productivity. The minimum bonus is
currently 8.33 per cent of salary.
Weekly Holidays Act 1942 Beedi and Cigar Workers Act 1967
Pensions and insurance
Main articles: Pensions in India and Social
insurance
The Employees'
Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952 created the Employees' Providen Fund
Organisation of India. This functions as a pension fund for old age security
for the organised workforce sector. For those workers, it creates Provident
Fund to which employees and employers contribute equally, and the minimum
contributions are 10-12 per cent of wages. On retirement, employees may draw
their pension.
·
Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme
·
National Pension Scheme
·
Public Provident Fund (India)
The Employees'
State Insurance provides health
and social security insurance. This was created by the Employees' State Insurance Act 1948.
The Unorganised
Workers' Social Security Act 2008 was
passed to extend the coverage of life and disability benefits, health and
maternity benefits, and old age protection for unorganised workers.
"Unorganised" is defined as home-based workers, self-employed workers
or daily-wage workers. The state government was meant to formulate the welfare
system through rules produced by the National
Social Security Board.
The Maternity
Benefit Act 1961, creates rights to payments of maternity benefits for any
woman employee who worked in any establishment for a period of at least 80 days
during the 12 months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery.
The Employees’
Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, provides for compulsory
contributory fund for the future of an employee after his/her retirement or for
his/her dependents in case of employee's early death. It extends to the whole
of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir and is applicable to:
·
every factory engaged in any industry specified in Schedule 1 in
which 20 or more persons are employed.
·
every other establishment employing 20 or more persons or class
of such establishments that the Central Govt. may notify.
·
any other establishment so notified by the Central Government
even if employing less than 20 persons.
Sex discrimination
Article 39(d) of the Constitution provides that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work. In the Equal Remuneration Act 1976 implemented this principle in legislation.
- Randhir Singh v Union of India Supreme Court of India held that the principle of equal pay for equal work is a constitutional goal and therefore capable of enforcement through constitutional remedies under Article 32 of Constitution
- State of AP v G Sreenivasa Rao, equal pay for equal work does not mean that all the members of the same cadre must receive the same pay packet irrespective of their seniority, source of recruitment, educational qualifications and various other incidents of service.
- State of MP v Pramod Baratiya, comparisons should focus on similarity of skill, effort and responsibility when performed under similar conditions
- Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co v Adurey D'Costa, a broad approach is to be taken to decide whether duties to be performed are similar
Unemployment[edit]
The Industries (Regulation and Development) Act 1951 declared that manufacturing industries under its First Schedule were under common central government regulations in addition to whatever laws state government enact. It reserved over 600 products that can only be manufactured in small-scale enterprises, thereby regulating who can enter in these businesses, and above all placing a limit on the number of employees per company for the listed products. The list included all key technology and industrial products in the early 1950s, including products ranging from certain iron and steel products, fuel derivatives, motors, certain machinery, machine tools, to ceramics and scientific equipment.[33]
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