BPO Subcontracting Dilemma: Do We Need to Register Under CLRA?

A BPO is registered under the Shops & Establishments Act. It has planned to engage a subcontractor in the following months. The question is whether the BPO is required to register the establishment under CLRA.

At present, the establishment is engaging 50 employees, and the proposed number of employees to be engaged under subcontractors is around 400, with each subcontractor hiring 3 sub-contractors. In this case...

Your establishment will be a principal employer for all the employees engaged under a contractor; therefore, you need to obtain registration under the CLRA Act before engaging contractors.

All contractors must obtain a license under the CLRA Act for engaging 20 or more persons.

Thank you.

New Labour Code stipulates a change in the number of persons

Once the Code of Occupational Safety becomes an Act, the Factories Act, Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, Building & Other Construction Workers Act, Inter-State Migrant Workmen's Act, etc., totaling 13 Acts, shall be repealed. At present, if a Principal Employer or Contractor appoints 20 workmen—other than permanent workmen—the establishment falls within the purview of the Contract Labour (R&A) Act. However, as per the new Code, the number of workmen, i.e., 20, has been increased to 50. The Principal Employer is responsible for providing canteen, sitting facilities, drinking water facilities, and first-aid treatment facilities to the contractor’s workmen, as envisaged in the new code. The condition which stipulates issuing a service certificate/work experience certificate by the Principal Employer to contract employees is also included in the new Code.