How Are Employers Adapting to Mandatory Bank Salary Payments for All Workers?

Post demonetization, various government agencies including Labour, EPF, etc., have urged employers to pay the salaries of employees only in their bank accounts. To inform employers about this, the PF department has sent them SMS. This approach should be followed even for contract and casual workers. The emerging scenario may keep the employers busy in terms of collecting the bank account number, Aadhaar card details, UAN-like credentials from all employees.

Notification from Ministry of Labor & Employment

Notification from the Ministry of Labor & Employment has been issued regarding the upcoming changes in employment regulations. All employees are advised to review the notification carefully and comply with the new requirements.

These changes are aimed at improving working conditions and ensuring fair treatment of all employees. It is essential for both employers and employees to be aware of these updates to maintain a harmonious work environment.

If you have any questions or require further clarification regarding the notification, please do not hesitate to contact the HR department. Your cooperation in this matter is highly appreciated.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Best regards

In my company, nearly 10 watchmen (casual workers) are employed, but they do not work continuously. No one has reached a minimum of six months with us. They often join and leave the job without any notice within six months. As a result, we provide their salary to them by hand. These workers are from another state. If we attempt to open a bank account for them, the bank will require an employer's recommendation letter. Even if we open a bank account for them, they are likely to leave the job within six months without any notice.

I am seeking clarification on how it would be possible to open a bank account for them under these circumstances.

Regards,
Thirumurugan

You don't have to do anything.

Jan Dhan Scheme

There is the well-known Jan Dhan scheme. Under that scheme, a bank is required to open a Jan Dhan account based only on one of the six government-issued ID cards. From my personal experience, everyone has one of those because you can't even travel by train nowadays without them (Aadhar, voter ID, PAN, driving license, magara, passport, etc).

If they have address proof with them, they get full access to a normal bank account; otherwise, there are some limitations in the account for the first six months (you can't have more than ₹50,000 in the accounts, and a few other nominal restrictions to prevent money laundering).

If the bank refuses, there is a special cell on the PMO website to address complaints (I used it once; they are super active and highly responsive). Plus, you can complain to the local district magistrate or collector.

About 18 crore such accounts have been opened before demonetization. And I hear about 15,000 such accounts have been opened daily by SBI alone since then.

So encourage your staff to go to the nearest PSU bank and get the account. They alone are responsible, not you, for anything that goes wrong with it, as you are not introducing the account holder.