Is It Necessary to Keep Our Own Attendance Register for AMC Engineers? Seeking Clarity!

Hi! I am working in a company where we have a large number of sophisticated equipment. These are maintained under an Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) by an external agency under a two-year contract. The AMC payment is made to the company based on the number of engineers present in a day. As per the contract, 6 engineers are required to be present daily. Deductions are made proportionately if fewer engineers are present. The team lead of the maintenance company has their own attendance register.

Question About Attendance Register

Is it necessary for us to maintain another attendance register? My superior insists on maintaining a parallel attendance register and asks me to sign it. I argue that as the Principal employer, we are not required to maintain one. Please clarify...

Attendance Records for Contract Staff

While under the Contract Labor Law and Factory Act, you are not required to maintain attendance for contract staff. It is the duty of the contractor. However, for internal control purposes, you can keep your own records. The best way to do this without getting into potential trouble is to ask security to make them sign into an AMC Staff register for security purposes. That way, you will know who has come and how many have come. It's not a register, so it's not directly under control under the Contract Labor Law.

Contractor Responsibilities Under the Contract Labour Act

The Contractors (Agencies) are required to maintain all registers, including the Attendance Register, under the Contract Labour Act & Rules, since employees are directly employed by Contractors and not by the Principal Employer (PE). According to the Rules, the Contractors are to maintain and retain all registers/records, including the Attendance Register, at the site of the Principal Employer where they are performing particular jobs in terms of the agreement. Therefore, my suggestion is to keep the Attendance Register under the Contract Labour Rules at your Security Gate.

It is not advisable to have a parallel Attendance Register for employees engaged by the Contractors. Please ensure that they do not sign on company papers/documents to be on the safe side; otherwise, they may claim permanent employment under the Principal Employer.

Regards