Page 100 - Labor

Pension from ex-employers eligible for Rs 40k standard deduction

Taxpayers who receive pension from their former employers are eligible to claim standard deduction of Rs 40,000, Income Tax department said today. Keeping income tax rates and slabs unchanged, Budget 2018-19 introduced Rs 40,000 standard deduction for salaried employees and pensioners in lieu of the exemption in respect of transport and medical expenses that was given till last financial year (2017-18). The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said it had received representations as to whether a taxpayer, who receives pension from his former employer, shall also be eligible to claim this deduction. "The pension received by a taxpayer from his former employer is taxable under the head 'salaries'. Accordingly, any taxpayer who is in receipt of pension from his former employer shall be entitled to claim a deduction of Rs 40,000 or the amount of pension, whichever is less, under Section 16 of the (I-T) Act," CBDT said in a statement. The standard deduction was discontinued from the ...

Clarification regarding applicability of standard deduction to pension received from the former employer

Earlier, the representations were received seeking clarification as to whether a taxpayer, who receives pension from his former employer, shall also be eligible to claim this deduction.

CBDT amends Section 16 of Income Tax Act

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday announced that the Finance Act, 2018 has amended Section 16 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.The new provision states that a taxpayer having income chargeable under the head 'Salaries' shall be allowed a deduction of Rs. 40,000 or the amount of salary, whichever is less, for computing his taxable income.Representations have been received seeking clarification as to whether a taxpayer, who receives pension from his former employer, shall also be eligible to claim this deduction.The pension received by a taxpayer from his former employer is taxable under the head 'Salaries'.Accordingly, any taxpayer who is in receipt of pension from his former employer shall be entitled to claim a deduction of Rs. 40,000 or the amount of pension, whichever is less, under Section 16 of the Act.

Anomalies in recruitment process of ONGC: Assembly committee

The Assam Assembly has accused oil behemoth ONGC of not adhering to various norms in recruitment of 22 posts reserved for people with disabilities. In its report submitted to the House yesterday, the Employment Review Committee of the Assam Assembly observed that the ONGC notification for recruitment to the 22 vacant posts did not follow a prescribed format in accordance with Rule 4 of the Employment Exchanges Act, 1959. The panel has also asked the government to formulate regulations for 100 per cent reservation of locals in Grade-III and IV posts in PSU firms of the state. "As per the Supreme Court verdict, it is mandatory to intimate the employment exchange, which then should sponsor the name of the candidates. The ONGC Assam Asset did not give any scope to the Employment Exchange to sponsor the candidates against vacancies," it added. The committee also pointed out that the ONGC claimed to have issued notifications to 10 local employment exchanges, asking them to ...

Payment of Minimum Wages to Contract/Casual Employees

Rates fixed for the scheduled employments in the Central sphere are applicable to establishments under the authority of Central Government, railway administration, mines, oil-fields, major port or any corporation established by a Central Government. These rates are equally applicable to contract and casual labourers/worker.

Labour unions demand setting up of panel for wage revision

The labour unions have asked the Maharashtra government to set up an advisory committee to revise their wages, failing which they have threatened to approach the Bombay High Court. As per the Minimum Wages Act-1948, the state government has the constitutional obligation to revise the minimum wages every five years. Every government is required to form the advisory committee, comprising representatives of factory owners, labour unions, the minister concerned and the secretary of that department, for the revision of wages. In a letter written recently to Labour Minister Sambhaji Nilangekar-Patil, the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) claimed that 32 industries in the state have not revised the wages of workers since 2010. The Minimum Wage Advisory Committee (MWAC) has not been formed because of the constant pressure from industry owners, as they are content paying wages based on old rates, CITU's national vice president D L Karad alleged. "As per provisions of the law, ..

Nike executive says company needs to step up promotion of women, minorities

(Reuters) - Nike Inc's chief human resources officer, Monique Matheson, said on Wednesday that the company needs to accelerate representation of women and people of colour at leadership levels.

AI disinvestment: CMD holds meeting with employee unions

Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola today held a meeting with representatives of four employees' unions to discuss about the proposed strategic disinvestment and their concerns, sources said. The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential bidders for a 76 per cent stake sale in loss-making Air India as well as divestment of two of the carrier's subsidiaries. Sources said the CMD met representatives from four unions for about 45 minutes to mainly understand apprehensions of employees about the proposed stake sale. The meeting was convened following directions from the ministry, they added. Representatives from Indian Aircraft Technicians' Association (IATA), Air India Aircraft Engineering Association (AIAEA), Air Corporation Employees' Union (ACEU) and Air India Employees' Union (AIEU) attended the meeting. These unions, which together have thousands of members, mostly represent engineering and commercial staff, among others. Sources said all the ..

Corporates dissatisfied with workforce planning: Study

Even as corporates are considering workforce planning as an integral part of business strategy, they are not satisfied with the way it is planned currently, a recent survey said. According to a study conducted by global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, only 11 per cent of organisations in India are satisfied with the current level of talent analytics, while just 24 per cent are satisfied with the current level of workforce planning in their organisation. Nearly 44 per cent organisations see workforce planning as an integral part of business strategy and 33 per cent view it as a key strategic initiative, the report said. "Moreover, workforce planning has started garnering attention and involvement at senior leadership levels with 46 per cent organisations responding that all business leaders, including CEOs and COOs are sponsors of such planning," it said. The study also indicates that predictive analytics, the science of using data and statistics to predict likely ...

"Engaging child labour should be included in poll affidavit"

To check the menace of child labour, Assam Labour Minister Pallab Lochan Das today suggested in the Assembly that affidavits of candidates in elections should mention whether he or she had employed any child labour. Das also announced that his Labour and Employment Department will make it mandatory for contractors to furnish an undertaking before any work in the department that no child labour would be engaged. "Can we give an undertaking in our poll affidavits that there is no child labour in our homes? I think we all can give that. If we make it a provision that all officials, contractors, businessmen give such undertakings, the problem of child labour can be minimised," Das said. He said most of child labour are engaged in educated and affluent families as domestic help. All the MLAs and the officials can declare that there is no child labour at their homes and that way the practice of child labour could be ended, the minister said. He also appealed to various ...

Das discusses with officials about development of Betla area

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today discussed with the Latehar district officials on developmental matters of Betla area in the district, an official release said. To eliminate naxalism and extremism, he asked the officials to generate employment in the villages. Das directed the officials here to prepare developmental schemes only after taking suggestions of the villagers, the release said quoting the chief minister. He asked the officials to establish communication with the villagers and ascertain their most important requirement for development in the village. Das asked to know and select all those areas where there is no approach road and construct roads and bridges, adding lack of approach road hampers developmental work. The CM also discussed about the campaign against naxalites at Budha Pahar in the district to end naxalism. He asked to connect the villagers with employment. Due to lack of approach road there is communication gap between the officials and ...

Special Package for Employment Generation in Leather and Footwear Sector

(i) Human Resource Development (HRD) sub-scheme provides assistance for Placement Linked Skill Development training to unemployed persons @ Rs. 15,000 per person, for skill up-gradation training to employed workers @ Rs. 5,000 per employee and for training of trainers @ Rs. 2 lakhs per person.

Enhancement of Gratuity Limit

The Government has also issued another Notification on the same day wherein it has also increased the maximum period of maternity leave in case of female employees to be counted as continuous service from 12 weeks to 26 weeks under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.

IIT-G retains 7th position in Engineering

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, has retained the seventh position among the top engineering institutions of the country in the HRD initiated NIRF 2018. The Institute was placed 12th in the overall ranking, according to a release issued by it today. "We are 7th in engineering in the country. Our performances in Engineering and Sciences are good. In order to move forward we require to work more on inter-disciplinary emerging areas", IIT (G) Director Gautam Biswas said. There is a need to minimise the gap between Science and Engineering so that "we can go up in the 'Overall Category' too. For that we require to pay more attention in some related areas pertaining to management sciences," he said. "The culture of management and soft skills enhances employment and entrepreneurial scopes for the students. Such parameters help in advancing the overall rank of the Institute," the director added. The evaluation of the National Institutional Ranking Framework ...

Ex-Aussie professor to face court over underpayment

A former economics professor is facing court for allegedly paying foreign workers at his Asian grocery store in Melbourne as little as 10 Australian dollars an hour, authorities said on Wednesday.

French Railway protests against Macron's labour reforms

France Railway network has been hit hard due to the on-going railway strike against President Emmanuel Macron's labour reforms on Wednesday.The protestors declred April 3 as "Black Tuesday', while claiming that the strike shall spread over a period of three months affecting two days in a week, as per certain media reports.France's national state-owned railway company, The Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer français (SNCF) is at the forefront of the strike opposing the recent decision of President Macron to take away certain employment benefits given to their workers.SNCF workers enjoy generous conditions, including automatic annual pay raises, early retirement, 28 days of paid annual leave and protection from dismissal. Their close relatives are also entitled to free rail tickets.Now the Macron government wants to phase out the special SNCF contracts, proposing to put new hires on contracts like those that apply elsewhere in the industry.The aim is to open up the state railways to ..

'Backward classes comprise 44.16 pc of central govt workforce'

Backward classes comprise 44.16 per cent of the central government workforce, the Lok Sabha was informed today. In a written reply, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said that while there is 17.55 per cent representation of the Schedule Castes in central govermment jobs, Scheduled Tribes account for 8.37 per cent of such jobs and other backward classes (OBCs) comprise of 18.24 per cent of the entire workforce. Athawale said that the data was based on the Department of Personnel and Training's annual report 2016-2017. The data provided by the minister also states that out of the total employees working in in 'Group A' of the central government, 30 per cent are from the backward classes. In 'Group B', out of the total workforce, 35.41 per cent belong to the backward communities. Similarly, 61.27 per cent of all 'safai karmacharis' (sanitation staff) employed by the central government are from the backward classes. SCs comprise 42.92 per cent, STs ...

Hry has taken number of steps for development of youth as skilled workforce: CM

The Haryana government has taken several steps towards the development of youth and aimed to provide maximum employment opportunities to them through industrial development, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said today. "With the setting up of institutes of higher education in the state, the pace of research and development in the field of industries would be further accelerated," the chief minister said. Khattar was addressing a gathering, during which he inaugurated the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), along with Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Satya Pal Singh. The technopark has been constructed at a cost of about Rs 175 crore, an official release said. Khattar said that with the inauguration of this campus, the academic and outreach programmes, would be further expanded. "As 57 per cent area of the state falls under the national capital region, the pace of industrial development has been accelerated in the state," he said. He assured all support and ...

170 construction workers get themselves registered

Altogether 170 construction workers were registered today at a camp organised by the Kamrup Labour Commissioner in collaboration with the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority and Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Development Association, an official said. Kamrup Assistant Labour Commissioner Ajanta Sharma appealed to all construction workers to register themselves in the Labour Office of their home district or work district. She also urged all contractors, builders and employers to engage only registered workers. The registered construction workers shall be eligible for various welfare benefits such as medical assistance, disability pension, general pension, maternity benefits, education assistance, insurance coverage, house building advance, tool purchasing loan, Sharma added.

Raj EPFO office to go paperless by Aug 15

The EPFO office in the state is going paperless and members would be able to operate their accounts from their office and homes byAugust 15, an official said. Six lakh EPF members and 72,000 pensioners attached with the state office would be benefited with speedy and paperless working at EPFO, its Regional Commissioner Saurabh Jagati said today. The new venture will cover beneficiaries of about ten districts including Ajmer, Alwar, Jaipur, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Dausa, and Churu, the Commissioner said. Online claims submission, no more attestation, functional at any internet access, bio-metric scanner, fool-proof security and transparency with accountability of employees would be the main features of the new system which was launched in March, Jagati claimed. Online process of claims would be expedited in one to three days, and direct transfer of money into bank accounts of claimants.