How Can We Support Employees Without ESI Hospital Access at Remote Sites?

Dear All,

We have over one thousand employees under our company banner. Currently, employees with a salary of less than ₹10,000 are covered under the ESI Act. However, most of our employees work at site locations where there is no ESI hospital, resulting in them not being able to avail of ESI benefits. Our company has both group accident policies and individual policies.

The following are the questions:
1) Can we exempt those employees from ESI?
2) If yes, under which scheme will they be covered?

Hi,

Suppose there are employees who are travelling for more than 17 days in a month, as per the law, ESI is not applicable to them. For marketing people, they can come under the Sales & Promotion Act, in which the ID Act is also not applicable to them along with the ESI Act. Please refer to the Sales & Promotion Act.

Anju

Sanjay,

Is there any arrangement at the site made by the "Principal Employer" for these hundreds of workmen for emergency medical services, check-ups, etc.? Because if the premises belong to the said "Principal Employer" and if your company has a contract with them, then this is necessary. The facts are not clear from your query.

Hi,

Please check whether the employees working on the site are covered under the ESI implemented area. If the location is outside the coverage or in a non-implemented area, you do not need to deduct ESI for those employees.

Dear Anjuman,

Thanks for the insight. You mentioned, "Suppose there are employees who are traveling in a month for more than 17 days, as per the law, ESI is not applicable to them." Can you let me know in which section/sub-section of this act the above is mentioned? I am asking this with respect to the sales employees in my organization, each of whom is based in an assigned territory across India and travels constantly for 26 days a month to promote sales and other sales-related activities. The above-mentioned statement from you would mean that none of the sales employees in my company would be affected by the ESI Act and the new amendment of the wage limit rising to Rs. 15,000/-. Kindly share your views. It would also be great if you can share your email ID. Thanks.

Others are also invited to share their views.

Karthik Iyer
+91 99675 01191
Mumbai
kudoskarthik@gmail.com