Understanding Permanency Rules for Contract Labours and Employer Obligations

Please advise me if any contractor is engaging his workers through a contract, and they have been working with him for the last 4 to 5 years in a continuous manner. Is there an obligation for the contractor or ultimately the principal employer to designate these workers as 'permanent' or provide them with all the benefits that permanent workers receive?

If a worker has been working continuously with a contractor for more than 180 days, is the contractor required to confirm their status as 'permanent'?

Please clarify this.

Atul
atulsmalve26@yahoo.com

Dear Atul,

There are no specific provisions made for contract labor for permanency on the job. The contract labor itself is regulated or abolished as per the job requirements in the establishment. However, the contractor needs to provide welfare amenities to his labor as facilitated to permanent workers, such as leave, canteen, restrooms, latrines, drinking water, etc. Please refer to the Contract Labor Act. If the contractor is unable to provide the necessary amenities, then it is the liability of the Principal Employer to provide the same.

About 180 days of working in one establishment, the Principal Employer urges the contractor to rotate his laborers. If groups of laborers are engaged for the job for the whole year in one establishment, there are chances of a permanency claim in the establishment from laborers. I have come across several permanency claims in my career. The employer must be careful.

The employer should not directly pass instructions to laborers. The contractor or his supervisor should be the mediator. The laborers should not feel that they are part and parcel of the Principal Employer.

Regards,

Bhushan Dahanukar