The Ministry of Labour and Employment has notified amendments to the following five major labour enactments, effective 29th January, 2019.
The Amendment Rules have done away with the cumbersome process of physical filing of the annual return before the Regional Labour Commissioner with a copy to the Inspector.
An employer is now required to file a unified annual return in Form V, online on the web portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. All accounts, books, registers and other documents will be required to be maintained in electronic form and they can be called for being produced during inspection.
Making the process of filing a unified annual return online and eliminating the physical filing of return is a positive step towards ease of doing business. The date for filing the return however, will remain on or before 1st February.
2. Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Rules, 2019
The Amendment Rules have done away with the cumbersome process of filing of the annual return before the Inspector. There is also an option to file the Annual Returns online, through the portal of the Ministry.
As per the Amendment Rules, an employer will only be allowed to file a unified annual return in Form D, online on the web portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. With this, the option of physical filing of the Annual return in Form D has been completely done away with. All accounts, books, registers and other documents are required to be maintained in electronic form and they can be called for being produced during inspection.
Making the process of filing a unified annual return online and eliminating the process of filing of return to the inspector is a positive step towards ease of doing business. The date for filing the return however, will remain on or before 1st February.
3. Industrial Disputes (Central) Amendment Rules,2019
The Amendment Rules have done away with the cumbersome process of filing Form G-1 of the return in triplicate before the Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central).
An employer is now only required to file a unified annual return in Form G-1, online on the web portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. All accounts, books, registers and other documents must be maintained in electronic form and they can be called for being produced during inspection.
Making the process of filing a unified annual return online and eliminating the physical filing of return is a positive step towards ease of doing business. The date for filing the return however, will be pushed to 1st February, on a yearly basis, instead of being filed on a half yearly basis on 20th of the month from the end of each half year.
4. Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus) Amendment Rules, 2019
The Amendment Rules have done away with the cumbersome process of filing Forms L, M, N and O of the annual return before the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) (competent authority under the Rules).
An employer is now only required to file a unified annual return in Form X, online on the web portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. All accounts, books, registers and other documents must be maintained in electronic form and they can be called for being produced during inspection.
Making the process of filing a unified annual return online and eliminating the physical filing of return is a positive step towards ease of doing business. The date for filing the return however, will be pushed to 1st February instead of the existing deadline of 21st January.
5. Minimum Wages (Central) Amendment Rules, 2019
The Amendment Rules have done away with the cumbersome process of filing of the annual return in Form III before the Inspector. There is also an option to file the Annual Returns online, through the portal of the Ministry.
As per the Amendment Rules an employer is only allowed to file a unified annual return in Form III, online on the web portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. With this, the option of physical filing of the Annual return in Form III has been completely done away with. All accounts, books, registers and other documents are required to be maintained in electronic form and they can be called for being produced during inspection.
Making the process of filing a unified annual return online and eliminating the process of filing return with the inspector is a positive step towards ease of doing business. The date for filing the return however, will remain on or before 1st February.
Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment
