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Chapter XIII · OSH Code

Social Security Fund

This chapter has a single section. It requires the appropriate Government to set up a social security fund for the welfare of unorganised workers, and directs into it two kinds of money: amounts received for compounding the penalties and offences listed in section 114, and penalties imposed and received by the government-appointed officer under section 111. In practice, money paid to settle or answer those specific violations ends up funding welfare for unorganised workers, with the details of how the fund is run left to rules made by the appropriate Government.

1 section ~1 min read Official text, PDF p. 60
Employers and compliance headsHR managersTrade unions and worker welfare bodiesLabour law students

Key points

  1. 1The appropriate Government must set up a social security fund for the welfare of unorganised workers. §115
  2. 2Money received when a penalty or offence is compounded under section 114 (settled by paying a sum to a notified officer) is credited to this fund. §115
  3. 3Penalties imposed and received by the officer appointed under section 111 (the enquiry route for penalties under certain listed sections) are also credited to this fund. Not every penalty or fine under the Code is covered. §115
  4. 4The fund may also be fed by other sources that the appropriate Government prescribes by rules. §115
  5. 5How the fund is managed and spent is left to rules made by the appropriate Government, and those rules can provide for the money to be transferred to a fund for unorganised workers' welfare set up under any other law. §115
  6. 6"Unorganised worker" is not defined in this Code; for this section it takes the meaning in clause (m) of section 2 of the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008. §115
115

Social security fund

In plain words

The appropriate Government must set up a social security fund for unorganised workers. It receives compounding amounts under section 114(4), penalties imposed and received under section 111(6), and any other sources the government prescribes. It is run and spent in the manner the government's rules lay down, which can include transfer to an unorganised workers' welfare fund under another law.

(1)

There shall be established by the appropriate Government a social security fund for the welfare of the unorganised workers to which there shall be credited the amount received from composition of the offence as specified in sub-section (4) of section 114 and the amount of the penalty as specified in sub-section (6) of section 111.

(2)

The fund may also be funded by such other sources as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government.

(3)

The fund shall be administered and expended for welfare of the unorganised workers in such manner as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government including the transfer of the amount in the fund to any fund established under any other law for the time being in force for the welfare of the unorganised workers.

Explanation

Explanation.—For the purpose of this section the expression "unorganised worker" shall have the same meaning as is assigned to it under clause (m) of section 2 of the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008.

Source: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, official gazette copy, page 60

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