Accidental Death & Compensation: (Income Tax Return Required)

If a person has an accidental death and the person was filing income tax returns for the last three years, then the government is obliged to give ten times the average annual income of the last three years to that person's family.

Yes, you will be surprised by this, but this is right and it is Government rule. For example, if someone's annual income is  4 lakh 5 lakhs and 6 lakhs in the first, second and third years respectively, its average income is ten times of five lakhs.. means five million rupees, family of that person is entitled to receive from the Government.

In the absence of much information, people do not take this claim with the Government.

If any return is missing, mainly last three years, this could lower the claim amount or even no claim because court takes ITR as only evidence. NO wealth record, FD's; business etc. is given that much importance as compared to ITR in the eyes of law.

Many a time,  people do not file ITRs regularly..or it will be taken lightly..

Due to lack of information the family receives no economic benefits.

Source - forwarded

Section 166 of the Motor act, 1988 (Supreme Court Judgment under Civil/ Appeal No. 9858 of 2013, arising out of SLP (c) No. 1056 of 2008) Dt. 31 Oct. 2013. Fawarded as Received..

Disciplinary Actions Procedure

The following procedure is to be adopted and followed while dealing with the disciplinary actions against the employees who have been committed misconduct as per the provisions of standing orders / service rules as the case may be. This system may ensure HR dept to avoid legal complications that may arise out of discharge, dismissal and termination of employees to the maximum extent. While I was working with one leading in Electronic Media at Hyderabad, I have framed this system and implemented successfully for their 11 net work channels successfully.   

1. Advice Letter: If any employee is found to be absent from his training/ duty without leave or intimation to the office for more than one week, you have to give him an advice letter asking him to report for duty within  3 days of receipt of that letter. If the employee responds and report for duty within the specified time then we have to close his case by treating the period of his absence as LOP/Leave as recommended by his HOD. On the other hand, if the covers of advice letters sent to the permanent and present address of the employee returned undelivered to us, we have to send a copy of such letter through his e-mail id. Even there is no response from the employee then we have to go for issuing him charge sheet cum show cause notice in case of permanent employee or show cause notice for discharge in case of trainee/probationer. 

2. Show cause notice for discharge: If there is no response for the advise letter sent to any trainee/probationary employee or explanation offered by them is found to be unsatisfactory, then we have to give him the show cause notice for discharge by mentioning the date of his joining and the terms of agreement if applicable and the period of his absence. Finally we have to ask him as to why he should not be discharged from his training/probationary employment for his unauthorized absence within the stipulated time, without prejudice to our right to recover the compensation amount from him as per the terms and conditions of the agreement. If the employee did not receive this notice and the communication is also not served through his e-mail id and his whereabouts are not known, then we have to go for paper publication of this notice covering his permanent residential address as per our service record. 

3. Discharge Order: If the employee refuses to take the notice, either through post or mail or no response for the paper publication, then we have to give him the discharge order wherein we have to mention from what date his discharge will be effective and we have to ask him to pay the amount of compensation, which is due from him as per the terms and conditions of the agreement. 

4. Charge sheet cum show cause notice: If there is no response or explanation offered by the confirmed employee is not satisfactory for the advice letter given to him as per Para 1 of the above, then we have to issue him the charge sheet cum show cause notice, wherein we have to frame the charge against him under the relevant service rules of our organization. Further, we have to ask him to submit his explanation if any, within 3 days of receipt of that notice. For the service of notice on the employee, the same procedure as stated in Para 1 of the above is to be followed. If there is no response from the employee or explanation offered by him is found to be unsatisfactory to us, then we have to go for conducting enquiry into the charge leveled against the employee. 

5. Charge Sheet cum Enquiry Notice: If the employee does not receive the charge sheet cum show cause notice either through register post or mail and his whereabouts are not known then we have to go for the publication of charge sheet cum enquiry notice in a leading daily news paper covering the permanent residential address of the employee. In this publication the details of his unauthorized absence, the name of the enquiry officer and the time of the enquiry to be held etc are to be mentioned so as to enable the employee to come and participate in the enquiry on the appointed date and time. If the employee fails to come and attend the enquiry as per the schedule time, an exparte will be conducted by the enquiry officer. 

6. Enquiry Notice: If the employee received the charge sheet cum show cause notice as detailed in Para 4 of the above and offer his explanation for the same, which was found to be unsatisfactory to us for one or the other reason, then we have to issue him the Enquiry Notice and the rest of the procedure is to be followed as detailed in Para 5 of the above. 

7. Enquiry Proceedings: The concerned HR-Executive is to be appointed as a management representative by the management to represent them in the enquiry to be held against the charge sheeted employee(CSE)as per the details of charge sheet cum enquiry notice/enquiry notice. During the enquiry proceedings, the management representative has to present the case of CSE in brief to the enquiry officer and he is also required to produce his witness and exhibits to be marked in the enquiry on behalf of the management. If the CSE has attended and participated in the enquiry the management representative is required to cross-examine the CSE for the statement given by him before the enquiry officer. On the other hand, if the exparte enquiry is conducted by the enquiry officer, then the management representative has to give his statement and produce his witness i.e time keeper to give the statement in brief to the enquiry officer about the CSE. The management representative has to mark the following documents as exhibits on behalf of the management. 

8. Enquiry Report: As soon as holding the enquiry, the enquiry officer is required to submit his report within a week or two to the management, wherein he has to give his findings basing on the proceedings of the enquiry which was conducted by him. The enquiry officer, findings shall contains whether the charges leveled against the employee has been proved or not? 

      

9. Comments Letter: If the charges are found to be proved in an enquiry and accepted the same by management, then a comment letter is to be sent to the CSE along with enquiry report, asking him to submit his remarks about the findings of the enquiry officer within 3 days. 

10. Final Show Cause Notice for proposed punishment: If the CSE has received letter cited in para 9 and offers his remarks on the findings of enquiry officer and management found the same unsatisfactory or CSE refuses to take the letter, then management has to issue final show cause notice to the CSE wherein they should mention proposed punishment like Discharge, Dismissal or Cut of annual increment with cumulative or at once or warning etc. But the proposed punishment must be in proportionate with gravity of misconduct as leveled against CSE. 

11. Dismissal / Discharge / Termination Order: If CSE has fails to offer his comments on final show cause notice of management  or management found the explanation offered by CSE is not satisfactory, them management can issue discharge / dismissal / or any order which stipulates the punishment against CSE as per the provisions of the standing orders or service rules of the company. 

12. Suspension Pending Enquiry: If any employee commits grave misconduct such as theft, disorderly behavior, manhandling coworker or threatening superiors while on duty, in such a case, management can put said employee under suspension pending enquiry by way of issuing him an order mentioning the facts of the incident and how it constitutes misconduct under standing orders / service rules of company. Thereafter, detailed charge sheet as stated in para 4 and others are to be followed to completed the disciplinary proceedings. However, suspended employee is to be paid subsistence allowance as per the provisions of standing orders / service rules of the company during  proceedings of disciplinary action provided that delay in completing the proceedings are not attributable to CSE.

Laws Applicable on Sexual Harassment & Women Rights

Section 66A, Online Abuse and Offensive Messages

Section 66A:-

Section 66A of the IT Act describes, which penalised sending offensive messages through an online medium. The types of information these covers are offensive messages of a menacing character, or a message that the sender knows to be false but is sent for the purpose of ‘causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will.’ If you are booked under Section 66A, You can face up to 3 years of imprisonment along with a fine. The types of information sent for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, or ill will. The judgement about Section 66A is face up to 3 years of imprisonment along with a fine.

Influence of Internet

Nowadays, internet has a vital role.Through internet, women face large amounts of sexist harassment, abuse, discrimination on the basis of their gender, rather than their opinions, or beliefs. For women who face such abuse, the first law to which they could logically recourse is Section 66A of the IT Act. Overall 4154 cases were reported under this section during the year 2015.Recently, Bollywood singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya was arrested by the BKC Cyber Cell in Mumbai for abusing female journalist Swati Chaturvedi on micro blogging site Twitter, case was registered against him after the journalist lodged a complaint against him. He was booked under Section 66A of IPC for sending offensive messages online. However, the use of 66A to file a case against cyber sexual harassment seemed to be a victory for the law of  cyber problems.

Various laws applicable on the sexual harassment and women’s rights

Not just 66A there are other sections of the IPC that can be used when a woman suffers online harassment, these sections can be called into play for online harassment too.

Section 509: Insulting the modesty of a woman.

An act, word or gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman and other forms of sexual abuse faced by women online - can fall under this.

Section 499: Defamation

Defamation is a catch-all term for any statement that harming someone's reputation. Section 499 too can be used against the online abusers.

Section 228a: Disclosure of the identity of victims of certain offences

Images of rape victims, as well as images and videos of rape, are sometimes published on the Internet, this is not legal.

Section 503: Criminal Intimidation

Rape threats is the most common violence against women online. Many of the women Twitteratis and Bloggers are a victim of these threats.

Section 507: Anonymous Communication

Many of the senders issuing rape threats other threats of violence. This section can be used against them.

We can use Section 66A and other sections to file a case against cyber sexual harassment for online abuse. These messages can be in the form of text, images, audio, or video. You can face up to 3 years of imprisonment along with a fine in case you are booked under Section 66A.

First-aid appliances

(1) There shall, in every factory, be provided and maintained so as to be readily accessible during all working hours first-aid boxes or cupboards equipped with the prescribed contents, and the number of such boxes or cupboards to be provided and maintained shall not be less than one for every one hundred and fifty workers ordinarily employed at any one time in the factory.

(2) Nothing except the prescribed contents shall be kept in a first-aid box or cupboard.

(3) Each first-aid box or cupboard shall be kept in the charge of a separate responsible person, who holds a certificate in first-aid treatment recognized by the State Government and who shall always be readily available during the working hours of the factory.

(4) In every factory wherein more than five hundred workers are ordinarily employed there shall be provided and maintained an ambulance room of the prescribed size, containing the prescribed equipment and in the charge of such medical and nursing staff as may be prescribed and those facilities shall always be made readily available during the working hours of the factory.

What is Staffing Metrics in HR ?

Staffing Metrics essentially are indicators of staffing performance.

Good metrics need to be:

In tandem with the organisational goals

Trackable

Consistent

Actionable

Predominantly there are four broad functional areas which are measured:

Productivity : The Unit of Service or the UOS is a commonly used metric which is basically calculated by dividing the number of things an employee does in a period of time with the total number of working hours in that period. Unproductive employees increase costs for the organisation and improving efficiency becomes very important.

Cost of Labor: The common metrics used include overtime costs, per unit costs of labor, cost of unproductive labor, payroll costs etc.

Satisfaction levels: Employee and Customer satisfaction are metrics which are determined using research surveys.

Retention: It is important to retain existing employees by providing them opportunities to grow as hiring new employees involve a cost. The annualized turnover rate is a common metric used.

Level of Recruitment: The costs involved and the time taken to recruit new employees are metrics used here.

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Compiled by: Dr. PBS. KUMAR

6 Big Reasons Employees Sue, And How To Protect Yourself

A critical part of a leader’s role in business is something called performance management. Proper goal setting and regular check-ins are crucial in order for your team members to understand how they are doing and where they might need improvement. It’s also about the manner in which you communicate. Having gotten this wrong in the past and suffered the consequences, I wanted to share some useful tips on how to protect the organization against employment-related lawsuits.

We live in an ever-evolving litigious society where peoples' first inclination when they feel wronged is to do what? Sue. As a business owner, I have learned many things the hard way. Mistakes invariably cost you time and money. But they are also learning experiences from which to gain wisdom.

According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, since 2005 the amount of wrongful termination lawsuits has increases significantly every year, with the most significant peak in 2008 when the economy crashed. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? Typically these claims are groundless but there are many reasons that an employee can fall back on to put together a lawsuit such as discrimination, harassment, wage and hour violations, unsafe work conditions, worker’s compensation claims and so on. That is why proper performance management and regular documentation is so vital.

Here are six big reasons employees will sue you when terminated.

1. Not giving a reason for firing. If you’re an at-will employer, you can fire at will, right? Wrong. Most employees think they’re wonderful workers, and if they get fired for a mysterious reason, they’ll make up their own reason – or their lawyer will. The reason for termination needs to be clear.

2. Firing an employee for bad performance when the employee has good performance reviews. This is the cousin to “not giving a reason for firing.” Supervisors need to understand that they’ll need a poor-performance paper trail if they want to fire someone. Or else a judge will smell something fishy.

3. Poor timing. For example, let’s say an employee files an internal complaint about the employer or a supervisor, and then shortly after is disciplined for a supposedly unrelated event.  It won’t be hard for a lawyer to connect the dots in court between these two actions. Employees who file complaints can be disciplined, but the supervisor better have the documentation in order before making the move.

4. Delayed internal investigations. When employees file complaints, they want them thoroughly investigated and they want it done now. If you can’t investigate immediately (because, for instance, a key player is on vacation), let the complaining employee know why and when the investigation is likely to begin.

5. Improper response to an Labour Department charge. If you’re contacted by the Labour Department regarding an employee complaint, respond promptly and courteously – and treat the complaining employee courteously, too. If you’re tardy in your response or treat the employee like a leper, expect to hear about it in court.

6. Failing to follow your own policies. You can have the best policies and training in the world – and indeed some companies have used that as a defense against a complaint. But you better be able to show that your supervisors followed those policies and applied the training.

If you are a manager or business owner, you have most likely experienced this to some degree and know how absolutely frustrating it is. Insurance can help mitigate costs, but that’s a double edged sword too. Having it is good, but if you use it your premiums go up. Or they might drop you. Then what’s the point?! Make sure your HR and legal teams are providing the proper protection and training for management. Sometimes these things can happen simply because management didn’t take the proper steps, thereby leaving the company exposed. Don’t allow that to happen. Being prepared won’t stop someone from attempting to sue you, but it can definitely mitigate time and costs involved in defending against it.

“HR - Your Aspiration must be greater than your Resource”

I got the opportunity to meet a CEO of a big organization, he said that, my HR person is not able to connect and extend support to the core business and for him HR means Recruitment, Statutory Regulations, Canteen and House Keeping. He limited his HR scope within this limit. This CEO further added that this kind of work anyone can do, even a commerce graduate can do easily. Being an HR everyone must be well aware about his 9 Roles and Responsibilities. Yes, it was not a complaint, but a pain he put forward to me. Today also, it is relevant in many organizations. This article is dedicated to all the members of HR fraternity to bring an inspiration within as we Proud of our profession “HR “which can bring a profitable and sustainable business in any industry.

Once upon a time a person belonging to a middle-class family started a business of selling rice and succeeded very well. Seeing his success, another man from the same village slipped into the same business of selling rice. This man used to open the shop daily and sit there till the evening, waiting for the customer and would come back after 7.00 pm. This almost continued for 2/3 months, he had not sold even a single kg of rice. Still he religiously continued the act, but in vain. When asked by his close partners and relatives about the business, he would tell that don’t doubt his skills and knowledge? This Business is not like any other business in the globe, market itself is down, many rice sellers are sitting idle. This person was not aware about the changed scenario and was unaware about the purpose of putting a shop or enterprise. What is the purpose of putting a shop or enterprise? We HR people must know about it.

The purpose of putting a shop or enterprise is to create and keep customers. Similarly, when you think yourselves and interlink your professional qualification ( capability) with your work - in the terms of 2nd rice seller; even if you believe that you are having 100% knowledge and skill to do certain job, Mind it that it will not bring growth in your career and will not help the organization to grow in business. Why? Read on..

Yes, in the same village a third shop started the business of selling rice. Now, there were three rice shops in parallel. One was old – (family traditions) being old, they had created a brand. The Second – shop keeper was good, having 100% skill and 100% knowledge of business, even materials were in stock for sale, but no customer.

Now, in between them a third shop popped-up. What do you think? is this shop going to do any miracles? Yes, he did! - Here is the key, this is the key that controls your future, your promotion, your greatness in life. This is the key which enable you to reach your destination. [If you don’t change your-self, you will be obsolete. This is the warning for every one of us wherever we work as HR Professional] we need to enhance our level of responsibilities, care to work force, all stake holders, customers, satisfy them with our supreme services. In this situation, you might be jealous, even threatened. But, what would you need to be a layer in this scenario? You would need completely new skill set and tool set. More importantly you would need a new mind set – a new way of thinking. Mantra is “Keep your aspirations high”.

Back to the story - NOW the third shop keeper wants to make something different in his market

Performance. He created a “passion within himself (passion means - those things that naturally energize, exercise, motivate & inspire you to serve) that always drove him as a guiding principle. He believed that, ‘’a rising tide lifts all boats.. or.. in a tornado, even a turkey can fly..’’ By keeping this phrase in mind, he deeply thought about the changing scenario and imagined market performance. He knew imagination is much more important than knowledge. Initially, he started off with capturing data from each house of the entire area which was; a) how many members were there in each household? b) The quantity of rice, they cooked in any given day c) the size of the rice jar in each house to hold the stock.

Why he captured data? Thus, he met every customer at their place, generated knowledge about their need and their requirement and made a strong retain strategy.

Then he offered (1) Free home delivery of rice. (2) A good service —-to replenish the house hold’s rice jar automatically at regular intervals. Customer becomes so happy because they got rice at their house with regular intervals, without spending extra money and efforts (here customer saved travelling expenses and time, they got quality, quantity with less price). Everyone in the village agreed his offer and he captured full business in one night. He became the King overnight. He became the Business Leader. Till yesterday, the first rice seller (family traditions) was the Business Leader. Today his business is no more. Obsolete from the business. Today, only few may reach him. The New Business Leader replaced many within one day. He used - Three tactical elements of Value Generating Relationship strategy which are;

(a) To seek direct contacts with the customers.

(b) To build a data base

(c) To develop a customer oriented service.

Now, he captured complete business of the entire area. The new level of his marketing performance completely threatened to other two shops. The old shop who believed that they are the market leaders became the member of the market overnight. This new changes in the market place forced them to    believe that ‘’Customer was Supreme’’ .Whoever gives value to the price can stay in the market. Today, wherever you work – you need to understand: What does customer want? Customer want;

(a) Relationship, (b) Accessibility, (c) Promptness, (d) Follow-up, (e) Responsiveness, (f) Promises kept,(g) No Surprises, (h) knowledgeable people, (j) Kept informed, (k) Do it right.

Now, let us work out being an HR - what would be our strategy to become an important of Business. How we are going to create a difference in the organization through HR.