// Is Your Employees’ Salary Breakup Labour Law Compliant?

DIRECTORS DESK

Your questions answered by the people shaping Absolute’s vision, values, and future.

Dear Reader,

Over the years one of the most common questions, I have been asked is

What is the “correct” salary break-up of guards or out-sourced employees covered under minimum wages act?

In this letter, I would be attempting to “de-mystify” all the heads that are applicable to guards / outsourced employees covered under minimum wages act.

I claim to be no expert in this area but by virtue of heading a manpower intensive business and having gone through various inspections do have a fair idea about it. The break-up is supposed to be compliant with ESI, PF, Bonus, Minimum wages amongst other acts.

Let me explain with an example of an ideal break-up of Security Guard doing 8 hours of work.

S No.HeadAmountRemarks
1Basic – Minimum Wages15,000Assumed Minimum wages for Unskilled (non-matriculate)
2Relieving Charges @ 16.67 % (for 7th Day of working)2,501N.A. for where staff works for 6 days.
3Total Minimum Wages (MW)17,501 
4Leave @ 6.73 % of Total MW1,178Total of 37 days leave (CL-12, EL-15, Festivals & national holidays -10)
5PF @ 13 % of 60% of Total MW (Basic)1,495Our view is you can deduct PF by bifurcating minimum wages into Basic plus other heads as long as Basic is reasonable, say 60% of minimum wages. However, service provider cannot claim full PF from client and deposit only on bifurcated amount.
6ESI @ 3.25 % of Total MW569 
7Bonus @ 8.33 % of Total MW1,458Minimum bonus payable is 8.33% of minimum wages though terms and conditions apply.
8Uniform Allowance200Mandatorily to be given to service providers as they are not supposed to charge the employee for it.
9Total22,401 
10Service Charges @ 10 % of above2,240N.A. for non-service providers and cannot be an unreasonable figure like 2% so as seeming to encourage service provider to cheat.
11Gross Total24,641 

The majority of heads remain common whether a person is an outsourced or a direct guard.
By the way, I do not charge this much ???? as most of you guys would not pay.
I hope it helps. Feel free to connect with me if you need any help including how to handle these issues “creatively”? I and/or HOD – Personnel Department will be happy to engage with you / your employee.

Regards,

Ravi Kapur