ESIC Coverage for Civil Workers in Construction: Contractor Responsibility and Legal Implications

Dear All,

I recently joined as HR in a manufacturing company which just started construction and hired civil and electrical workers through various contractors. Now, my management wants to cover them under ESIC. Our establishment is not yet registered under ESIC, since at present we have only 3 members on the roll. Kindly clarify whether our management or contractor is responsible for paying ESIC.

Please see the link below: [https://www.esic.nic.in/attachments/circularfile/45a15987a562b2d32690e94d684ca850.pdf](https://www.esic.nic.in/attachments/circularfile/45a15987a562b2d32690e94d684ca850.pdf)

The Supreme Court stayed the applicability of ESIC to construction workers in 2018, and as far as I can see, the stay has not been vacated.

If you still want to have them covered, you need to tell the contractors to cover them under ESIC and recover the money from you. Do not make the mistake of covering the workers under your code, as it can give rise later to their demand for being made permanent using the ESIC payment by you as proof that they were your employees.