Is It Necessary to Use Both Biometric and Manual Registers for Employee Attendance?

In one particular company, whose office is situated in the city's commercial area and is covered by the Shop and Establishment Act, a register is maintained for marking attendance where all the employees mark their attendance. The company has transitioned to a biometric system for marking attendance, and a device is installed where all employees are supposed to mark their attendance.

Now, is it necessary for employees to mark attendance both on the biometric device as well as the register? Is it always necessary to have manual registers for marking attendance? The answer to this question may be given after giving due regard to the applicability of relevant provisions of the Acts such as the PF Act and Industrial Dispute Act, etc.

Dear Friend,

You cannot expect an answer with reference to legal provisions or as per section... of the ID Act or Payment of Wages Act or similar because according to these Acts, manual registers are mandatory. If you look through various Acts, there will be muster rolls in each Act. However, in practice, we maintain only one register, which is also accepted. Similarly, you can implement a biometric system. When you computerize your wage register, wage slips, etc., you have to obtain permission from the Labour Department after submitting hard copies of the returns, registers, etc. The permission is granted only if the relevant information required in various forms under Labour Acts is available in the system-generated forms developed by you. Similarly, you have to get permission to introduce a biometric system for attendance marking. Once permission is obtained, you can use it in place of a manual register.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

There is no need to maintain manual registers if you are using Biometric Technology. Just keep a record of attendance on a monthly or weekly basis.

In one particular company whose office is situated in the city's commercial area and is covered by the Shop and Establishment Act, a register is maintained for marking attendance, where all the employees mark their attendance. The company has transitioned to a biometric system for marking attendance, with a device installed for employees to use. Is it necessary for employees to mark attendance both on the biometric device as well as the register? Is it always necessary to have manual registers for marking attendance? The answer to this question may be given after considering the applicability of relevant provisions of Acts such as the PF Act and the Industrial Dispute Act, etc.

Your biometric device connected with attendance software provides what kind of facilities. If it provides report generation, then no, it is not necessary to maintain a register if you are using a biometric system. Your system should generate all kinds of reports on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. However, the HRM handling the software should be very regular and friendly with the software, as well as the PF Act and Industrial Acts concerning the monthly reports generated.

Thank you, Juniwal, for the valuable inputs. The BM system installed provides all kinds of reports on a weekly or monthly basis. However, as T.K. Madhu has indicated, permission from the labor department would be necessary.