Navigating Labor Laws for Startups: Do We Need Inspections and How to Handle Attendance?

Dear all,

Labor inspection requirements for startups

I need information about labor inspection as we are a startup company in the IT-BPO sector. We have only 35 employees. I don't know anything about labor laws—do we need an inspection from the labor department or not?

Attendance register maintenance

How should we maintain the attendance register—can I use only an Excel sheet, or is it necessary to get signed attendance from employees, like a muster roll?

PF register requirements

Do we need to maintain any special register notes for PF? Our salary is purely through online transactions; we do not provide any cash salary.

I have many questions related to labor laws. Please guide and educate me.

Thanks and regards,
Thirumal

Since you have 35 employees, you must comply with legislations like ESI, EPF, and many other Acts.

Manual Attendance Register

Regarding keeping a manual attendance register, unless your soft copies are approved by the Labor Department, you should maintain a manual register without fail.

You may maintain attendance in the muster roll (register), but since you are in the IT sector, a biometric system can be of use. For PF/ESI, prescribed records could be maintained. Now you can register your company with PF/ESI ONLINE.

Dear Sir, I am writing to request that you maintain the muster roll register at your workplace. This will be beneficial for various purposes such as compliance with labor department regulations, EPF, ESIC, and other related matters. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Regards, Karunakaran Y N
WWW.KLPCORPORATESERVICES.COM

Maintenance of Soft Copies of Registers

Maintenance of soft copies of registers is not a right conferred on establishments, but establishments are allowed to follow system-generated reports, registers, etc., with the approval of the appropriate authorities only. For that, the printouts of the reports, registers, etc., are required to be submitted, and the authorities concerned will verify if they contain the necessary information as required under the forms prescribed by law. If satisfied, they will approve it.

System-Generated Reports and Hard Copy Requirements

In practice, the authorities often do not raise concerns if you have system-generated pay slips, service books, etc. However, they may insist on a hard copy of the Muster Roll even if you have a biometric system integrated into your attendance/payroll software. This is because many fields of the system-generated Muster Roll can be changed or corrected at a later stage if needed. Therefore, it is advisable to have a manual Muster Roll along with a biometric system.