[blackwasp]

The government has made it mandatory for all employers which resume functioning as the lockdown gets over, to provide medical insurance to their employees.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) circular states: "Reference is invited to Order No. 40-3/2020-DM-I (A) dated 15th April 2020 issued as part of the Consolidated Revised Guidelines by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), GOI. As per the said order, inter alia; the following are stipulated:

All industrial and commercial establishments, workplaces, offices etc. shall put in place arrangements for the implementation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) before starting their functioning. As per clause no. 5 of Annexure - II of the said SOP for social distancing for offices, workplace, factories and establishments, medical insurance for the workers to be made mandatory, as per the circular.

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[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Attachment 1996391

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Thank you for bringing this up. It is on the face of it a laudable thing to do, a humanitarian action. For a large employer, like those whom most BHPians work for, this is a no brainer. But the Govt needs to be clearer which types of organizations and employers does it apply to - ie above xxx employees, or above yyy turnover. If they said this applies to employers with 100 or more employees it starts to make some sense. To expect this of a local dhaba employing 12 people or a service provider employing 9 is a disincentive to employ. And what about gig workers? To that extent it reflects the continued thinking of the administration that loading more onto the employer is the way to go. No wonder such a vast proportion of our economy stays in the informal sector because if you are a small business man complying with the Govt's myriad regulations is too complex and too uneconomical.

The Govt already has an ESIC scheme running which the employer effectively pays for. Why not simply expand that?

[Miyata]

A good move, surely. I am guessing it will have some unintended consequences -

1) Number of contract employees are going to increase since they would be excluded from health insurance and PF contributions - savings for the employer!

2) The clauses for health insurance might change for many employees - based on the nature of negotiations between employers and insurance firms.

3) The overall cover amount could reduce - what was earlier 15 lacs cover could come down to 5 lakh!

4) A positive outcome, possibly, could be that - more employees could choose to get their individual corporate independent health insurance to offset a potentially reduced cover amount of the employer!