If any employee does not want any government benefit and asks for the direct amount of this benefit to be deposited into his account, can we provide this and can we have it put in writing? Is this action valid under labor law?
These items - PF, ESIC - are all government-mandated welfare measures. The employee cannot surrender these benefits and ask for cash instead.
An employee may want to increase cash in hand, but organizations are precluded from accepting such requests in writing or attested and notarized, etc. His written declaration has no standing in law.
The only way these schemes can be avoided is if the company has a better benefits scheme of its own. I don't know if any recent amendments have removed this provision. Anyway, there is no value for an employee request that is against the law of the land.
Indian labor laws prohibit 'Contracting out' of the provisions of the Acts. So the answer to your question is simply 'no'.
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR Consultant
If you are knowledgeable about any fact, resource or experience related to this topic - please add your views. For articles and copyrighted material please only cite the original source link. Each contribution will make this page a resource useful for everyone. Join To Contribute