Outsourced staff in govt depts to get ESI facility

The state government has written to all department heads for extending the benefits of Employees State Insurance (ESI) and provident fund (PF) facilities to the employees of outsourced agencies by public sector undertakings, autonomous bodies and government departments.

As per the guidelines for manpower hiring agencies, the amount of ESI and PF must be deducted at the time of monthly payment. However, many government departments do not ensure the deduction of the benefits at the time of payments to the outsourced firms, it said.

“It is noticed that often the actual enrolment and flow of benefits to the outsourced employees by such agencies is not being properly monitored by the principal employers. In many cases, identity cards­ under ESI scheme have not been provided to these employees and, thus, they cannot avail any ESI coverage,” the labour and ESI department of the state government observed.

It has been decided that henceforth, at the time of releasing the payment, the government departments and PSUs must ensure that the outsourced agency provides ESI numbers of all its employees. “In case of non-supply of such information by the outsourced agency, further payment may be withheld and Regional Director, ESIC/ Regional Provident Fund Commissioner may be informed of the details of defaulting cases for verification,” said the department in its letter.

The government departments have been asked to follow the new payment guidelines for outsourced firms starting April this year. The order for payment withheld in case of non-supply of employee information was made earlier this month, just couple of days ahead of the date when model code of conduct for polls came into effect.

Many government departments are recruiting manpower through outsourced firms, especially after the computerisation of all government offices. However, as an austerity measure, the state finance department in 2011 had issued guidelines that said outsourcing may be resorted in special cases to improve efficiency and curb financial burden. It had fixed the maximum limit for payment to outsourced firms by a head of department at Rs 10 lakh. For crossing the budget limits, the department heads have to consult the finance department before engaging the firm.

As per a cabinet decision in 2013, the state government allowed all contractual employees coming under the category of group C and D to become permanent employees after appearing an exam. However, outsourcing of activities like gardening, cleaning and security still continues.