Unit 4: Labour welfare

• Applicability: factories, mines, plantations, shops and establishments with 10 or more employees.
• Eligibility: at least 80 days of work in the 12 months before expected delivery.
• Benefits (after the 2017 amendment): 26 weeks of paid leave (up to 8 weeks before delivery) for the first two children; 12 weeks for the third child onwards; 12 weeks for adopting mothers (child below 3 months) and commissioning mothers; medical bonus; nursing breaks; work from home where possible; crèche for establishments with 50+ employees.
• No dismissal during maternity leave.

• Coverage: non-seasonal factories and notified establishments with 10 or more employees; employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month.
• Contributions: employer 3.25%, employee 0.75% of wages (employees earning up to ₹176 a day are exempt from their share).

• Administration: ESI Corporation (ESIC) through its hospitals and dispensaries.

• Applicability: establishments with 20 or more employees; mandatory for employees earning up to ₹15,000 a month.
• Contributions: employee 12% of basic wages and DA; employer 12%, of which 8.33% (on wages up to ₹15,000) goes to the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 and the rest to the provident fund; employer also pays for EDLI.

• Administration: EPFO; Universal Account Number (UAN) makes accounts portable.

The International Labour Organization (1919, UN agency since 1946) sets international labour standards through conventions and recommendations, promotes decent work and has a unique tripartite structure (governments, employers and workers). India is a founding member. Social audit is an independent review of an organisation's social performance — its impact on employees, community and environment — measured against stated social objectives, and reported to stakeholders.

• ILO Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention No. 102 (1952) sets nine branches of social security: medical care, sickness, unemployment, old age, employment injury, family, maternity, invalidity and survivors' benefits.

Labour welfare includes facilities and services provided to workers for their well-being, beyond wages — inside the workplace (canteens, rest rooms, safety) and outside it (housing, education, recreation). Evolution: from philanthropic efforts by employers to statutory provisions and modern employee well-being programmes. Objectives: improve living and working conditions, raise efficiency and morale, reduce absenteeism and turnover, and build good industrial relations.

Types: statutory (required by law), voluntary (employers' initiative) and mutual (workers' own organisations); intramural (inside the factory) and extramural (outside).

• Labour welfare officer: required in factories with 500 or more workers to advise management and promote welfare.