HR Newsletter: Insights on Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana-Dec-2020

The Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana (the “Scheme”) is introduced to incentivise the employment opportunities during the COVID recovery phase. The Scheme will benefit (i) the new employee joining the EPFO registered establishments on monthly wages less than Rs. 15000/- after October 1, 2020 and (ii) employee provident fund members drawing monthly wages less than Rs. 15,000/- who made exit during the pandemic period i.e. from March 01, 2020 to September 30, 2020 and are employed on or after October 1, 2020. This collectively means that if any establishment hires (i) new employees having monthly wages less than Rs. 15000/- on or after October 01, 2020, or (ii) employee who has either lost job between March 01, 2020 to September 30, 2020 at monthly wages less than Rs. 15000/- (collectively “Eligible Employee(s)”), such establishments get this benefit.

Key highlights of the Scheme:

1. Validity: This benefit is available for a period of 2 years from the date of the Eligible Employee’s employment. This Scheme will be operational from October 01, 2020 till June 30, 2021.

2. Eligibility Criteria for Establishments: Establishments registering with EPFO after commencement of Scheme will receive this benefit for all Eligible Employees. Establishments already registered with EPFO will be eligible for the benefit only if:

a. Minimum of 2 new Eligible Employees are hired in the establishment having a strength of 50 employees or less.

b. Minimum of 5 new Eligible Employees are hired in the establishment having a strength of more than 50 employees.

3. Contribution from Central Government:

As per the Scheme, the Central Government shall provide contribution for 2 years in respect of theEligible Employees as per the following scale: a. Establishments employing up to 1,000 employees: Employee’s contributions (12% of Wages) & Employer’s contributions (12% of wages) totalling 24% of wages. b. Establishments employing more than 1,000 employees: Employee’s EPF contributions (12% of wages). This subsidy support will be credited upfront in Aadhaar seeded EPFO Account (UAN) of the Eligible Employee.

Importance of Social Media Policy

Social media is used regularly by all the employees and its usage has been rapidly increasing. Employees use social media in different ways. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube are few examples of social networking sites. This creates the necessity for a social media policy as an indispensable tool for an organization, just like any other company policy. The social media policy will act as a code of conduct to secure its and its employees and customers proprietary information. A social media policy gives clear guidance on what employees are permitted to say regarding their colleagues, organization, and its customers. This policy shall broadly coverfollowing points,

a. The acceptable and non-acceptable guidelines while using any organisation’s information on social media,

b. Safeguards that the employee should follow before posting any information,

c. Making any statements about the organisation, or posting picture or video of the organisation, its logo or its premises, and

d. Guidelines for the employees permitted to post organisational information on social media. Kindly get in touch with us to have a robust policy on use of social media.

Mandatory Employee’s Consent Before Collecting Personal Data

While inducting an employee, employer tend to collect certain information of the employees such as their name, phone number, permanent address, medical and biometric records, sexual orientation and such other details which is sensitive and personally identifiable information. Collecting, assessing or storing such information is governed by the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011 (“IT Rules”). As per the IT Act and IT Rules, it is mandatory for the employer to protect the sensitive personal data or information of the employees. Prior to collecting such information, an employer is required to obtain prior written consent from its employees to use, store their personal data and also disclose the purpose of collecting and using such information. As per section 72 of the IT Act, if the employer makes any unauthorized disclosures of the personal data without the employee’s consent, such employer shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine which may extend to INR Five lakhs, or with both.