Understanding Employee Categories: What's the Difference Between Company Employees, Scheduled, and Non-Scheduled Employments?

Difference Between Company’s Employees, Scheduled Employments, and Non-Scheduled Employments

Please provide the difference between (i) Company's employees, (ii) Scheduled Employments, and (iii) Non-Scheduled Employments. Who is included in (i) Company's employees, (ii) Scheduled Employments, and (iii) Non-Scheduled Employments?

Schedule Detailing Categories of the Company’s Employees

What is meant by Schedule detailing categories of the company's employees (Management/General/Personnel)?

Sample Documents Request

Please provide a sample copy of the outsourcing agreement, staff manual, and employee handbook.

Company’s Pension Fund Obligations

What is meant by the company's pension fund obligations, and how can we confirm that the company is compliant with them?

Thanks with Regards,

T. Thirumurugan

Scheduled Employment

By scheduled employment is meant the employment specified in the schedule attached to a particular Act. For example, there are minimum wages notified for different classes of industries and different classes of employment. These are schedules under the Act. The Provident Fund Act also has a schedule in which classes of employment that will come under the coverage of the said Act are given, and generally, those kinds of employments are called scheduled employment.

Company Employees

The employees who are on the rolls of the company should be the company employees. There is no such category anywhere in the labor laws. Correct me if I am wrong. Since a schedule is nothing but a statement showing some related things, you can very well have your own schedule of employees holding managerial positions, employees holding purely administrative roles, and workers who do not have any supervisory rights, etc.

Scheduled and Non-Scheduled Employment

Scheduled and non-scheduled employment is based on the nature of the job and compliance with the Payment of Wages Act. This applies to both company employees and outsourced employees. Reference the Payment of Wages Act and Minimum Wages Act as per the applicable schedules.

Outsourced Employees and Compliance

Outsourced employees are monitored through the labor commissioner's contract works agreement. The principal employer must ensure that their statutory liability of labor welfare schemes, such as ESIC/EPF (including EPS), has been discharged by the contractor. Otherwise, the principal employer will have to pay and discharge the liability.

Obtaining a License for Outsourcing

Please get in touch with the state labor commissioner's office to obtain a license for awarding a contract for outsourcing external employees.

Mr. Thirumurugan, it seems you have encountered a few terms and are trying to relate them. This might confuse your understanding of labor laws because there are many labor laws, each dealing with the definition of 'employee' or 'wages or salary' in its own way, keeping in view the purpose of the Act.

Understanding Labor Laws

The easiest method to understand these concepts of employee, employment, and wages is to question in what context you want to know about them and then refer to that specific Act. For example, if you want to know who is eligible for PF benefits, then refer to the PF Act and go through it. If you want to know who is entitled to minimum wages, then consult the said Act.

B. Saikumar HR & Labour Law Advisor Navi Mumbai