Are Temporary Factory Workers Earning High Daily Wages Covered by ESIC or WC?

Dear Sirs,

In factories, we have certain vendors coming for small-time activities like welding, maintenance, or some small project work. The vendors have employees whose work is casual in nature, and they work for only 2 to 3 days but at high daily wages such as Rs 600, Rs 700, and more. If these employees earn daily wages exceeding Rs 577 (which calculates to monthly Rs 576.92 x 26 days = Rs 15,000), would they be considered outside the purview of ESIC and covered under WC policy?

Please help.

Dear Sirs,

In factories, we have certain vendors coming for small-time activities such as welding, maintenance, or some small projects. The vendors employ workers whose tasks are casual in nature, and they typically work for 2 to 3 days at high daily wages like Rs 600, 700, or more. If these employees earn daily wages exceeding Rs 577 (which would amount to more than Rs 15,000 monthly, calculated as Rs 576.92 x 26 days), would they be considered outside the purview of ESIC and covered under a Workers' Compensation (WC) policy?

Please help.

When such employees go out of the coverage of the ESI Act by virtue of their higher rate of wages, they are covered by the provisions of the Employees' Compensation Act, 1923, even though their employment is casual.

1. Sir, your argument may be correct theoretically, but it is common knowledge that the so-called casual and temporary employees are hardly paid even minimum wages as fixed by any appropriate state government. This lacuna is perhaps being misused by employers to evade coverage under the ESI Act, 1948, and the rules/regulations framed thereunder in respect of casual and temporary employees.

2. However, if the position as mentioned by you is correct, then I think the remarks of Sh. Umakanthan53 as above appear to be correct. However, as per Rule 50 of the ESI (Central) Rules, 1952, the exemption limit is based on a monthly basis and not on a daily basis. Therefore, it can also be inquired from the said contractors as to how much amounts of wages the so-called casual and temporary employees have been paid during the whole month from other sources.

Once an area is declared as a 'revenue area' by ESIC, all establishments with 20 or more employees in that area automatically fall under the purview of various provisions of the ESI Act. Workers' Compensation is not applicable in place of ESIC.

Dear friends,

I wish to add that there is no provision to calculate a daily limit/ceiling. The employer has to see whether the worker has been paid Rs. 15,000 or more in a month or otherwise. Hence, the above-mentioned workers are coverable under ESIC.