Is Adjusting Travel Allowance Enough for Our Salary Structure Revision? Seeking Advice!

Hello everyone! I have always been following CiteHR and have received answers to my questions. Glad to be connected. I need a small clarification on the Salary Structure Revision. With the new budget coming in, our employees have been asking us to revise the salary structure and add a few components. Travel/Conveyance Allowance has been increased to Rs. 1600/- per month, as we all know. I just need confirmation if the adjustment to the Travel/Conveyance allowance alone will be enough. We plan to change the structure with this adjustment and issue new letters to all the employees. Kindly suggest! Appreciate your help!

It is better to revise the structure and issue letters. If you increase conveyance, then you have to adjust with some other allowance.

While there is no law preventing a change in salary structure at any time, it is a better idea to make the change during your annual revision. Simply altering the structure by increasing one component and decreasing another indicates that the structure is not genuine but rather a way to reduce the base salary (which impacts various aspects). In the event of any disputes, this can become a sticking point and put you at a disadvantage.

If your next salary revision is far off, then of course, you should adjust the structure now. Or if it just occurred, the structure can be changed with retrospective effect.

Anyone, please help me to solve this. How can we decrease the office clerk's basic salary (while increasing their subsidies) without infringing the labor law? - Samibd

Reduction in basic salary cosmetically (which may impact contributions to EPF) is not permitted by the EPF Act. So, examine this aspect. What is the purpose of "decreasing office clerk's salary," and what is the cause of action? Do you think that your clerks are currently highly paid in terms of basic salary?

I don't understand what these subsidies are all about in the salary structure. Can you provide more details?

Thank you for the information! We have our annual appraisal cycle happening right now. So we can issue the new letters with this adjustment. Appreciate your support.

Feel free to provide an option to your employees to choose between conveyance allowance and transport reimbursement. It is very much permissible under the ITA, and your CA can help you with the computation of the permissible amount. Again, be judicious in passing that benefit using relevant criteria. Best.