10 Ways to Ensure Compliance with Labour Laws

A growing business requires hiring of new employees, and as your company strength grows, there are also a series of labour laws compliance and regulatory responsibilities that will fall upon you. And it’s the responsibility of organizations to make sure that they are aware of all the policies, rules and regulations that is applicable and take care of compliance too. This is where labour compliance comes into play. Adhering to labour laws involves the adherence to a complex framework of regulations. With labour compliance services, companies can cover all aspects of employment like working conditions, social security and employee rights and ensure compliance.

Importance of Labour Laws

Labour law compliance ensure that the workers are empowered and are protected. Labour laws are established to regulate and maintain individual and collective employment relations. Additionally, with labour compliance services you can-

–          Maintain a health employer-employee relationship.

–          Protect workers rights.

–          Create an environment and means where workers have equal participation in discussions about their workplace, work ways and rights.

–          Impose restrictions on employers’ contracts and terms, set minimum standards for safety and pay.

10 Ways to Ensure Compliance with Labour Laws

Maintaining labour law compliance can be extremely challenging. Engaging with labour compliance services can help employers a great deal in making sure their operations stay in compliance. To avoid non-compliance, it’s important that all employees adhere to certain rules set out by the organization and relevant government bodies.

Here are some ways to ensure compliance with labour laws –

1.     Understand all the applicable labour laws, and comply with ones relevant to your industry

There are some common laws that are applicable to all industries regardless of their nature. Some of the common laws are-

• The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 governing the resolution of industrial disputes.
• The Factories Act, 1948 was established to regulate working conditions in factories.
• The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 ensuring timely and fair payment of wages/salaries.
• The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 ensures all workers all paid minimum wage rates
• The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 ensures social security for employees.
• The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 provides for gratuity to employees who meet specific criteria.
• The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 provides maternity benefits to female employees.
• The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013: Mandates prevention and redressal of sexual harassment at the workplace.

2.     Maintenance of accurate employee records

As an employer, it’s important that you maintain all records of employees including working hours, leaves and benefits. Ensure to maintain compliance with everything right from employee contracts to tax deductions.

3.     Development and implementation of policies and procedures

Create an employee handbook that has all the information required regarding work hours, leaves, wages and overtime payments, has procedures to address any issues regarding disputes, workplace safety and grievances if any. The policies also must comply with relevant labour laws and must be communicated properly to the employees.

4.     Perform audits and compliance checks

It’s important to constantly perform compliance checks and audits by engaging with third party external auditors. They help you keep track of and updated about the changes in labour laws and policies.

5.     Train you employees on labour compliance

Labour compliance isn’t just the responsibility of one person or one team in an organisation. It’s something every employee should be made aware of and must be trained on if necessary. Employees must know about their rights and obligations in order to maintain a culture of compliance and workplace ethics. 

6.     Engage with experts

If you are finding it challenging to navigate through the complex labour laws, it would help to engage in labour compliance services and outsource your compliance needs to labour law experts or legal advisors. They can help you matters like layoffs, disputes or contract terminations. 

7.     Make use of modern technology to stay compliant

There are HR technology solutions that can help manage payroll, attendance, benefits that are in accordance with labour laws. It would also really be beneficial to integrate compliance management systems that provide updates on legal changes.

8.     Create a checklist for compliance

As a business its essential that you create a compliance checklist that has the required information to ensure that potential risks are avoided and that the business is protected legally. This can help the business take action in case of non-compliance and further introduce interventions such as training, education, and communication in case any issues are found.

9.     Address all compliance issues promptly

If your operations are non-compliant in any manner, make sure you take immediate action to rectify the non-compliance issues and take measures to prevent them from happening again. To aid, you can document the actions that you have taken presently to address the violatons that may happen in the future. 

10. Know about all the laws that could affect your business

To make the business compliant, one must know which labour laws affect influence the operations. Thorough knowledge is required to avoid any confusion in case of non-compliance. 

Why is it Important to Engage with Labour Compliance Services?

Even after organizations put maximum efforts to ensure labor law compliance, maintaining adherence to the complex rules and regulations can be very challenging. Coordinating with stakeholders, handling notices, and interacting with government agencies require a lot of attention and resources that many businesses may not have the capacity to manage effectively. These are the times to call for help. What organizations need is a dedicated compliance partner who have the expertise to oversee the critical aspects of compliance and are experts at providing labour compliances services.

Expert third party labour compliance services providers offer solutions that can help companies maintain labour law compliance through advanced technological innovations. The right compliance provider will make sure they create an efficient labor law compliance management that streamlines operations of an organizations by ensuring compliance is maintained in all functions carried out and steer them clear of legal issues and penalties, and leveraging technology is crucial for managing your labour law compliance effectively.