Is Our Engineering Company Required to Register for Standing Orders with 45 Employees?

My name is Mamta, and I work at an engineering company that falls under the purview of the Factories Act. I have a question regarding our organization. We have a total workforce of approximately 45 employees. Should we be registered for standing orders? If so, what would be the process to implement it?

Hi,

To be registered under the Employment Standing Order Act, manpower must be more than 100. Hence, your organization does not cover the Employment Standing Order Act.

Best Regards,
Devesh Chauhan

In some states, the employee threshold is 50. Please check the specific limit in your state.

You don't need to have a certified standing order if your establishment's employee strength is less than 100. As far as I know, a certified standing order is required for more than 50 employees in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states. You can follow model standing orders until the strength reaches 100 in other states.

[Department of Labour, Govt. of Karnataka](http://labour.kar.nic.in/labour/industrial-1946.htm)

There are state rules relating to coverage of standing orders. In many states, it is 50 workers, whereas in some states, it is even 20. Please refer to your rules. Still, there will not be any illegality in getting standing orders registered, provided you could win the confidence of the workers' union.

It is not mandatory to get standing orders certified (not registered). If you feel that you need to change some of them vis-a-vis model standing orders, provided the act is applicable to your organization, you may initiate the process. But the process is lengthy and also costly.

You have not mentioned in which state the factory is located. The State Government, under the Act, is empowered to notify the applicability of the Standing Order based on the number of employees. Yes, it's right that many states have made it applicable to establishments with less than 50 employees. The term "employee" includes all individuals, whether they are permanent or temporary, in the preceding years.

Moving on to the second query, you are asking how to obtain certification for the Standing Order. Assuming that your employee strength meets the requirements and you wish to have a certified Standing Order, you have the freedom to either implement a Model Standing Order or design your own, incorporating newer and more modern practices, new forms, and formats, etc. The Model Act dates back to 1946.

To obtain certification, you need to refer to the clauses, definitions, misconducts/serious misconducts, welfare and training terms, and classify them correctly and appropriately. For example, sleeping on duty, while a general and behavior-related natural act, can be considered a simple misconduct. However, for an operator responsible for producing pharmaceutical products, sleeping on duty should be classified as a serious misconduct.

Another example that illustrates the advantages of having a certified Standing Order in place is the training clause. Although the Model Act includes a training clause, you can further elaborate on who will be engaged as trainees, their qualifications, age, stipend, duration, training scope, and the protocol post-training. Employee exit after training can sometimes pose challenges and impact employee relations, particularly for lower-wage workers. Developing and certifying your own Standing Order presents an opportunity to modernize and enhance its relevance, adding significant value. The benefits of aligning with the latest version of the Standing Order support a forward-thinking organization without posing any threats. An important advantage is the ability to work with modern tools and technologies in 2016, compared to traditional methods used for the past 70 years.

In Uttar Pradesh, the employee strength is 20 as per the directions from the state government. In Himachal Pradesh, the employee strength needed for the applicability of the Model Standing Orders Act is 50, as announced through a notification dated 10/10/1983. The Act is formally known as the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 (referred to as Model Standing Orders for brevity). Many forward-thinking organizations have adapted and created new Standing Orders, achieving successful outcomes. Currently, I am in the process of drafting Standing Orders for a client with facilities in Baddia, Assam, and Uttarakhand.

The certification process is straightforward and outlined in the Act. The certifying authority, typically a Deputy Labor Commissioner, schedules one or two dates to review the draft Standing Orders with workers' representatives to ensure compliance with the Model Standing Orders guidelines. If the workers' representatives raise any objections, you have the opportunity to address them. Once the certifying authority is satisfied, certification is granted. If discrepancies are noted, you are given the chance to make the necessary adjustments to align with the provisions you have been working with thus far.

Dear Madam,

Standing Orders are not applicable to your organization under the provisions of the Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act - 1947 rules due to your organization's workforce being less than 50. Please go through the same.

Thanks & Regards, V R Rao Pulipaka

Mamta, if your establishment's employees' strength is less than 100, you don't need to have a certified standing order. However, it's better to obtain a certified S.O. from the Director of Industrial Safety and Health because some standing orders are out of the context of legal parameters.

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Hi Mamta,

It also depends on the state in which your factory is operational, i.e., for Tamil Nadu, it's mandatory to obtain Standing Orders if the employee strength exceeds 20. So please check with the local act if possible.