HR News: 09 Jan, 2017

1.

Catch up: Organisations can now enrol employees under EPF amnesty scheme

Companies which had not earlier enrolled their employees under the EPF scheme can now do so, against payment of a minimal damage fee of Re 1 per year of default. 

The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) scheme is for the good of people and hence the government has made efforts to keep it mandatory. In what may further ensure full participation from both workers and employers, companies which had not earlier enrolled their employees under the EPF scheme can now do so, against payment of a minimal damage fee of Re 1 per year of default.

Moreover, if an employee wasn't enrolled earlier and his/her share of contribution was not deducted from salary, the employer company had to pay this sum also in addition to the past defaults of its own contribution. However, now under the amnesty scheme, only the employer's contribution has to be deposited.

The objective of the amnesty is to ensure enrolment of employees and spread the benefit of the EPF scheme. Companies having 20 or more employees are required to mandatorily enrol those employees under the EPF scheme who have a salary of up to Rs 15,000 per month. Additionally, the EPF scheme is optional for those drawing a higher salary. However, once an employee opts for the scheme, he or she cannot opt out.

As per the scheme, both the employer and employee are required to contribute 12 percent per month towards EPF against the employee's basic salary plus dearness allowance. However, under the amnesty, interest at the rate of 12 percent on the amount due for delayed deposit of the contribution will be payable for the period of delay.

2.

Forget calls, France bans e-mails after work

Work e-mails post office hours are considered to be a practice that promotes unpaid overtime.

France, used to long lunches and short work weeks, has become the first country in the world to ban e-mails post work. It has passed a new regulation which states that employees can now ignore work e-mails post work hours or 6 pm. The rule is applicable for companies with a workforce of over 50 people.

The country wants to discourage the culture of ‘always on’ work and allows employees the ‘right to disconnect’. Work e-mails post office hours are also considered to be a practice that promotes unpaid overtime. Besides, working digitally even after work hours, was leading to several health and relationship hazards such as sleep disorder and complications in relationships.

This new law came in post a survey by Eleas, a French research firm that stated that around 33 per cent of French workers performed work tasks after work hours. The study also revealed that 60 per cent of employees in France were in favour of a legislation against work emails.

Besides France as a country, Volkswagen is the first company to have discouraged work e-mails post work hours. It deactivated worker’s blackberry so that no one could pester them with work e-mails. There are few companies which also destroyed any work e-mails that were sent post work hours.

Companies have been asked to encourage their employees to adopt this new practice and as per the law they should publish a charter that will clarify the demands and rights of employees post work-hours. However, there is no penalty for companies that fail to oblige.

The new law has come into effect from January 1, 2017.

3.

S Gopu, director HR, ITI given additional charge of CMD.

Gopu, an engineering graduate was unit head of ITI’s Bengaluru plant before donning the hat of an HR-head.

Following the retirement of PK Gupta, state-owned manufacturer of telephone equipment, ITI, has given the additional charge of chairman and managing director to the current director-HR, S Gopu.

Gupta, who was director-marketing, had the dual responsibility of the CMD since April 2014. It was also when Gopu was elevated as director-HR. Prior to that Gopu, an engineering graduate, and a post graduate diploma in operations research and management from Annamalai University, was unit head of ITI’s Bengaluru plant as additional general manager.

Gopu armed with 33 years of professional experience, joined ITI in 1984 as assistant executive engineer at the Bengaluru factory. He worked there for 4 years before he was moved to the Palakkad unit. Gopu played an important role in the phase II and III expansion of ITI Palakkad. He was also instrumental in getting ISO-14001 for ITI Palakkad Plant – a first one for ITI.

In the 90s, Gopu successfully executed several projects for UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation) and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).