Outsourcing Canteen Services: Should NGO Workers Get Employee Benefits?

Outsourcing Canteen Facilities to NGOs or Co-Operative Societies

Our company, a manufacturing PSU in West Bengal, is planning to outsource the canteen facilities to an NGO or Co-Operative society. To provide the canteen facility, manpower is required to be engaged by the said NGO or Co-Operative Society to which the job will be outsourced. Therefore, views are invited on whether the manpower engaged within the premises of the company should be covered under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.

Please suggest.

Regards,
DG

If it is a statutory canteen, a canteen set up as per the mandatory requirements of the Factories Act, you have to ensure that the workers employed by the society are covered by ESI/PF and other labor laws.

Madhu.T.K

Dear DG,

As your question clearly states, the outsourcing of a canteen will be done to a third party - NGO or a cooperative society. In such a case, none of the above compliances apply to it. When a specific unit of the said company is outsourced to a third party, the third party takes care of it.

Hope this clarifies things for you.

Regards,
Sapana

It is not clear for me. Do you mean to say that the employees of the "statutory" canteen run by a third party are not covered by the labor laws applicable to the factory for whose employees the canteen is set up as mandated by the law?

Madhu.T.K

If a canteen setup is present in the factory campus, the principal employer has to ensure that the vendor is following statutory EPF and ESIC regulations.

Regards,

Sureshkumar

Dear [Recipient],

You need to take care of EPF, ESIC, and other manpower-related points such as working hours. Additionally, you should address matters related to waste management, which also falls under the responsibility of the principal employer.

If the company is outsourcing cafeteria services, it is essential for the company to obtain the necessary approval for using LPG.

Thank you.

Best regards