Executive Certificate in Labour, Employment and Industrial Laws for HR Managers
My friend has recently joined as an HR manager in an MNC company. The company has branches all across India, in different states. Sadly his MBA education left him ill-prepared for tackling the number of compliances applicable to his company. The previous HR manager who handled compliances have left very little documentation for him to understand where to pick up from. Other senior HR managers expect him to handle it and would not spend too much time on it. He was overwhelmed by the number of compliances stipulated under Factories Act itself, let alone the 19 other labour law statutes applicable to his company.
He called me up at 2 AM in the night and remembered the time when he cleared the basic labour law paper in MBA by reading 30 pages of class notes from a friend. At the time one could only imagine getting the MBA degree and the subsequent job. The talk in the air was about pay packages, not about what one would do once one bags a job and report for work.
Only if he knew what is going to hit him later. He thought he can do whatever it takes on the job. After all he is an MBA! He thought all he requires now is to figure out a few forms, registers and rules. How difficult can that be?
To his surprise, the work seemed to involve a lot more. Sure he had read about the Employee Compensation Act, 1923 but had no clue on how to handle a crisis situation, what course of action to take, whom to inform when a worker met with an accident in the factory premises or even in the office.
Seniors do help but you can't keep nagging them all the time about how to do your job.
Not only as a fresher, but HR managers with experience also have to deal with a variety of new issues. Labour law, after all, has not remained an exercise for filling up statutory registers anymore. It has been evolving. From a compliance driven exercise it has become an important part of workplace culture and corporate governance.
Earlier you could get away with a copy paste job while drafting an employment agreement, for example. Now not giving a thought to drafting a tight employment contract with a senior employee can cost the company crores in compensation. Refer to Vishal Sikka's case to understand what I mean.
HR managers are custodians of many agreements such as employment agreement and a bunch of other documents. Top companies have began to worry about their HR managers drafting and document review skills.
Policies are another major area of concern. A senior HR manager once called me up and was looking for advice on drafting a dating policy. An office romance had fizzled out and turned sour leading to a sexual harassment complaint by the female employee. To his dismay, the company had no policy in place to handle the situation.
Forget about the newer developments in the labour and employment law and compliance regime, even the experienced pros of the HR game make mistakes in compliance under the Gratuity Act, don't believe me, just look at the number of comments received on this article we wrote on gratuity.
Disciplinary actions and terminations are frequently leading to legal disputes. How do you maintain adequate records that will stand legal scrutiny? How do you handle whistleblowers and sexual harassment allegations? What is there is a allegation of discrimination based on caste, gender or sexual orientation? There is an unprecedented pressure on HR managers to get legalities right.
The need for learning and skill upgrade is even higher with experienced HR managers and leaders. People who reach a certain level of experience are looked upon to provide expertise-both functional and strategic.
We at LawSikho realise the skill gap that exists between theory and practice for HR managers when it comes to laws, regulations and government policies. We are working with top companies across the country to train HR managers on legal issues. We have a specialized labour and employment law course dedicated for HR managers.
Learning objectives
- Framework of key labour laws
- Understand the powers of Centre and States under the Constitution to make labour-related laws.
- Introduction to various Central Labour Laws, State-Level Laws and Notifications
- Maintain records, obtain registrations, display notices, filings and returns
- Periodicity of compliance and whom to engage for compliance
- Exemptions available to SMEs under new labour laws
- Simplified registers under Ease of Compliance to Maintain Registers Under Various Labour Laws Rules, 2017 and how to maintain them
- Identify risks and draft key organizational policies to prevent them
- Training systems which can be used for risk mitigation
- Use surveys, feedback, random inspections, audits, ombudsman person and other implementation and monitoring tools
- Create machinery for investigation, escalation, communication, disciplinary actions to mitigate risks from employees
- Performing Internal Labour Audits
- Challenges for organizations with pan India presence with respect to labour laws
- ResponsibIlity for violations under labour laws and Understanding the risks for directors
- Types of employment relationships and how to draft an employment agreement, consultancy agreements, fixed term arrangements, work-from-home arrangements, contract-labour arrangements, internships and trainee arrangements
- Draft letter of appointment, employment contract, standing order, consultancy Agreement and secondment Agreement
- Legal validity of engaging child labour in different kinds of occupations
- Obtain registration under Profession Tax Act
- Calculate bonus and compensation for overtime work
- Tax issues in secondment arrangements with foreign companies?
- FDI regulations for ESOPs to foreign employees
- All you need to know about The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and how to draft and get Standing Orders approved
- Conditions for enforceability of non-compete clauses
- Enforceability of employment bonds Calculation of minimum wages and the obligations under Payment of Wages Act
- Combined effect of Payment of Wages Act, Shops and Establishment Act and Factories Act.
- Prohibitions against discrimination in remuneration and the valid grounds for payment of differential remuneration
- Dealing with workmen's dues and pending salaries and other amounts during insolvency.
- Conducting disciplinary inquiries, procedure for dismissing and terminating employees legally, rules regarding full and final settlement (F&F) and drafting exit memos.
- Handle regulatory proceedings for labour violations
- How to handle labour raids and inspections
- Undertake layoffs, shutdown a large factory or shop or transfer employees in case of M&As and business transfers
- Draft various employment policies like and obtain employee consent for employment handbook
- Provisions related to Employees State Insurance Act and Workmen's Compensation Act
- Know provisions related to festival and national holidays and overtime for specific holidays
- Handle worker-management disputes, strikes and frame a settlement agreement
- Registration for profession tax for employees.
- Applicability of Shops and Establishments Act to various kinds of offices and commercial establishments and exempted establishments
- Working hours, spread-over, rest interval, opening and closing hours, closed days, national and religious holidays and overtime work provisions applicable to employees in factories and offices
- Terms and conditions applicable to employees, fixed-term employees, consultants, contract labourers, interns, apprentices and NEEM Trainees
- Know about gratuity, provident fund, pension, Employees State Insurance and group insurance taken by employers.
- Registration, record-keeping, periodic compliance and filings under Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923, Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 and Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
- Provisions related to social security for unorganized sector workers.
- Due diligence requirements for engaging contractors and responsibilities of principal employer
- Implementation challenges and obligations under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and appointment of external members
- Employee sensitization and dealing with False complaints under POSH Act
- Creation of ICC, powers and functions of ICC, inquiry process, principles for hearings and decision-making and record-keeping by ICC.
Who should take this course
- Decision makers, Industrial and factory managers, project managers, labour officers in manufacturing, construction, mining, services, shipping, transportation, facility management and other manpower heavy sectors
- HR professionals in manufacturing and services sector
- Compliance specialists, company secretaries and chartered accountants who wish to help their clients to comply with labour laws
- Law students and lawyers who want to excel in labour and employment law related matters
- Labour law practitioners - both consultants and litigators
- HR managers looking at leadership roles
- Entrepreneurs and directors who want to master legal aspects of labour and industrial laws
What is the career potential after doing this course
- Labour law is a growing area of law that requires increasing levels of expertise and attention from organizations.
- HR managers with superior knowledge of labour, employment and industrial laws tend to get jobs with better pay as well as faster promotions. HR managers with understanding of legal system can assist legal departments far better in building up their defence or case.
- HR consultancies benefit a great deal if their consultants have legal qualifications and good understanding of the laws that govern this sector. It is an essential skill.
- HR managers who wish to progress to leadership roles especially at the board level will find knowledge of law invaluable.
- Law firms are hiring HR professionals who have a good knowledge of HR processes as well as understanding of the laws to assist in legal cases as well as compliance services.
- HR tech is a hot sector and startups require HR experts who understand labour and employment law.
- You can specialise is a specific area such as contract labour, whistleblower situations or sexual harassment matters. As an expert with both HR and legal understanding you will find yourself in a sweet spot in the industry.
- Government hires external consultants and policy advisors who have understanding of both HR/IR as well as labour laws.
Potential employers
- Large corporations
- SME
- HR consultancies
- HR tech startups
- Big 4 consultancy companies
Course Syllabus
Scope of the course, labour law tools and compliance fundamentals
- How to comprehend national and state-level labour laws
- Powers of Centre and States under the Constitution to make labour-related laws
- Central Laws
- State-Level Laws and Notifications
- Key terms in labour legislations
- Major Compliance Tasks for an HR Professional
- Maintaining records
- Obtaining registrations
- Display of notices
- Filings and returns
- Remittances
- Periodicity of compliance
- Whom to engage for compliance
- Provisions for accounting and reserves
- Exemptions from compliance
- Reduced compliance for SMEs: Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments) Act, 1988 and 2014 Amendment
- Simplified registers under Ease of Compliance to Maintain Registers Under Various Labour Laws Rules, 2017
- Prevention, implementation and monitoring tools
- Risk identification and assessment
- Policy-creation
- Training systems and upgradation plans
- Use of surveys & feedback systems,
- Random inspections and labour audits
- Investigation and escalation tools
- Disciplinary Actions and enforcement strategies, upgradation plans
- How to perform Internal Labour Audits
- Responsibility for violations under labour law statutes & risks for directors
Practical Takeaways
Checklist of consequences of major labour law violations
Drafting for Managers
- Elements of a good draft
- Presence of a structure
- Clarity and consistency of language
- Logical and Chronological arrangement of facts
- Paragraphs
- Flow
- Sentences and sentence formation
- Clauses and sub-clauses,
- Punctuations,
- Numbering
- Avoidance of jargon
- How to avoid inaccuracy and ambiguity
- Tone and motive of the draft - tenses, active vs. passive voice, gender-sensitivities, etc.
- Compliance with legal requirements
- Common rules of interpretation
- How to review and finalize your draft
Types of contracts with workforce and organizational policies
- Capacity in which workforce can be engaged
- Employee
- Consultancy Agreements
- Fixed term arrangements
- Work-from-home arrangements
- Part-time and Piece-Rated Arrangements
- Contract-labour arrangements
- Internships and trainee arrangements
- Apprentices
- NEEM Trainees
- Child labour and legal validity
- Contractual instruments
- Letter of appointment
- Employment contract
- Standing Order
- Consultancy Agreement
- Secondment Agreement
- Relevance of Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946
- How to draft and get Standing Orders approved
- Obligations under Employment Exchanges Act
- Special clauses and their enforceability in contracts
- Penalty clauses
- Non-compete
- Non-solicit
- Employment bonds and lock-ins
- Confidentiality
- How and when to engage contract labour, terms and conditions of engagement and responsibilities of principal employer and contractor
- Valid forms of acceptance of employment contract and employee handbook
- How/ when to create new organizational policies or customize existing policies
- Major organizational policies and their formats
- Code of Conduct
- Whistleblower Policy
- Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy
- Business and Travel Policy
- Conflict of Interest Policy
- Customer data policy
- Data Security Policy
- Dating Policy
- Dress Code
- Equal opportunity policy
- Health and Safety Policy
- Leave and Attendance Policy
- Media Policy
- Personnel File Policy
- Physical Contact with Customers
- Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy
- Probation Policy
- Social Media Policy
- Computer Equipment and Internet Usage Policy
- Protection of IP from Employees, Consultants and Vendors
Practical Takeaways
- Model Standing Orders
- Sample Employment Agreement
- Sample Consultancy Agreement
- Sample Appointment Letter
- Vendor diligence checklist
- Templates of the above policies
Laws regulating remuneration, misconduct and termination
- Regulation of wages under Minimum Wages Act and Payment of Wages Act
- Regulation of payment of bonus
- How to find out minimum wages in a state
- Employer's Obligations under Payment of Wages Act
- Regulation of Wages under Payment of Wages Act, Shops and Establishment Act and Factories Act
- Regulation of payment for overtime work
- Prohibition against discrimination in remuneration and other employment criteria (Equal Remuneration Act) and valid grounds for payment of differential remuneration
- How to terminate employees legally and rules regarding full and final settlement (F & F)
- Utility of 'exit memos'
- How to undertake layoffs or shut down a large factory or shop
- How to transfer of employees in the event of M & As and business transfers
Practical Takeaways
- Sample notices for violation from statutory authorities
- Sector-wise lists of applicable labour laws
- Comparative chart of employment conditions in different labour laws
- Sample Employment Agreement
- Sample Consultancy Agreement
- Sample Secondment Agreement
- Specimen Organizational Policies
Disciplinary Proceedings
- Issue of warnings without inquiry for policy violations
- How to draft and issue show-cause notices to workforce for disciplinary violations
- Notice to employees
- Notice to contractors (due to actions of contract labourers)
- Notice to consultants / retainers
- Notice to interns / trainees / apprentices
- How to draft a notice to a manager for violation of company policies (e.g. code of conduct/ ethics policy or leave and attendance policy)
- How to conduct disciplinary inquiries
- Evidence Collection
- Drafting a show-cause notice
- Natural justice and other administrative considerations
- How to build a document trail
- How to deal with concerns in a unionized environments
- How to draft a termination letter (dismissal, discharge simpliciter, on medical grounds under ID Act)
- How to impose fines, dismissal and termination on disciplinary grounds
Labour Laws Applicable to Manufacturing Sector and Service Sector
- Factories Act and Factories Rules
- Statutory responsibility and liabilities of Factory Occupier and Manager
- Workmen's Compensation and Accident Insurance
- Overtime for Holidays and Festival and National Holidays Act
- Employment Exchanges Act
- Consequences of violation of obligations under the above laws
- Profession Tax Act: Applicability, Registration and Compliance Requirements for employees, directors, partners and businesses
- Shops and Establishments Act
- Applicability to Hotels, Hospitals, Theatres, Restaurants, professionals' offices and independent consultants
- Working hours' regulations
- Spread-over, rest interval, opening and closing hours, closed days, national and religious holidays, overtime work
- How to keep office open 24 x 7
- Payment of wages and salaries under Shops and Establishments Act
- Annual leave, maternity leave, sickness and casual leave, etc.
- Termination of service
- Obligations towards interns, trainees and apprentices
- Advantages of setting up your factory or office in an SEZ
Practical Takeaways
- Handout of major Shops and Establishment Act compliances
Labour Welfare, Employment Benefits & Related Compliances
- Payment of Gratuity Act: Applicability, Calculation and Compliance Requirements
- Employer's Obligations under Provident Funds Act for Provident Funds and Pension
- Employees State Insurance and Workmen's Compensation Act
- Group insurance taken by employers
- Registration, record-keeping, periodic compliance and filings under the following laws:
- Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
- Pension-related obligations
- Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
- Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923
- Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948
- Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
- Social security for unorganized sector workers
- Labour Code on Social Security
Practical Takeaways
Compliance checklists under the above acts
Trade Unions, Labour-Management Disputes and Collective Bargaining
- Trade Unions - Implications of Recognition and Registration
- Consequences of non-membership of a trade union
- Unfair labour practices and regulation
- Legal and Illegal Strikes, strikes in 'public utility service'
- How to handle trade unions and industrial disputes
- Resolution and powers of labour courts and industrial tribunal
- Collective bargaining and settlement agreements
- How to read, understand & draft settlement agreements (interim, long-term, bipartite, tripartite)
- Key heads in a settlement agreement between union/labourers and management
- Options in case of breach of settlement agreements
Practical Takeaways
- Bye-laws of trade unions
- Sample settlement agreements
- Compliance checklist under Factories Act
Legal Proceedings, Government Inspections and Raids
- Consequences of improper dismissal or fine
- How to respond to government notices and orders (order, inquiry, summon and show-cause notices)
- How to handle regulatory proceedings for labour violations
- How to handle labour raids and inspections
- How to cooperate with government authorities
- How to prepare document trail
- How to coordinate with legal team at head office
- How to coordinate with local lawyers, law firms and arguing counsels
- Jurisdiction and Hierarchy of Labour Courts/Tribunals
- Stages in labour proceedings
- Limitation and Filing Process
Prevention of Sexual harassment at workplace
- Organizational Obligations under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
- Conceptual understanding of:
- What constitutes sexual harassment
- Which organizations need to comply
- Which categories of team members are protected
- Types of punishments
- Implementation challenges for companies
- How should an organization with less than 10 people implement the law
- How to create an ICC
- ICC's functions and powers: Inquiry, Interim measures, record-keeping
- Principles for conducting hearings and decision-making
- Confidentiality
- How to deal with false complaints
- How to appoint an external member or a consultant
- How to conduct sensitization
- Reporting obligations of employers and ICCs
- Recent case studies
Takeaways
- Anti-sexual harassment policy
- Checklist of compliance for organizations
- Employer's annual report disclosures
- ICC's annual report format
- Sample consultancy agreement for external experts
- Free sensitization e-book for team members
- Sensitization PPT
- ICC Capacity-Building Template
- Conciliation / Settlement agreement format
Money Back Guarantee
If you take this course, follow it diligently for a month, do all the exercises but still do not find value in it, or not able to understand or follow it or not find it good for any reason, we have a refund policy in place.. we will refund the entire course fee to you. It is a 100% money back guarantee with only one condition, you must pursue it properly for a month. If you don't find it valuable after that, get your entire money back.
Last Date to Enroll For the Course: 31st May, 2020
Course Fee: INR 18,000
Duration of the Course: 6 months
Seats: 20 (Limited Seats)
To enroll: https://lawsikho.com/course/labour-law-hr-managers
Join now. The seats are filling fast. If you join now, you get access to the materials right away. You can start learning right away, and the exercises and live classes will start on the designated start date.
Do you have a question regarding the course? Do you want to explore how you can use this course to progress in your career?
For any of the above queries, please email us at support@lawsikho.com or schedule a career counselling session by calling 011-40845203
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