No.There is no such provision under the ESI Act. It is the obligation of the employer to cover the eligible employee i.e. getting wages Rs.21,000 per month. Taking insurance policy is your own decision but the ESI Scheme is mandatory and you have to cover such employees whose monthly wages are Rs.21,000/- or less and you are liable to pay contribution.

Every allowance paid in cash regularly with Salary, irrespective of its nomenclature, unless excluded specifically in Sec.2(b)(i) and (ii) of the EPF&MP Act,’52, shall be regarded as ‘Basic Wage’ carrying contribution payment liability. As such the component of ‘Medical allowance’ and LTC being paid as part of monthly Salary shall attract PF contribution payment liability in my humble understanding.

It is good that you have thought of it. Exit interview, a HR practice which gained importance few years back has now been replaced by more proactive practice known as Stay interview. In exit interview, we tend to investigate the causes of leaving the employee and then address those issues so that next employee may not leave due to those reasons at least. In stay interview process we tend to engage, encourage and motivate the employee on continuous basis so that he does not leave. We also explore the possibility of employee staying back.

However, as you have asked some questions for exit interview, I suggest, you can have the following:

1- What was the first incident, which triggered in you to think about leaving the job?

2- What was the biggest attraction, you thought of before joining the company?

3- Did you find any gap between what you expected from your job, boss and company and what you experienced?

4- Do you feel that the work culture is not enough encouraging for employee to give his best?

5- When did you feel last that now enough is enough and now I should change?

6- In your view in which area company should improve upon?

7- How was your relationship with your boss?

8- If you were given an opportunity, would you like to join the company again?

You can also frame few more questions on the lines. The real purpose of exit interview will be fulfilled if the feedback is really considered seriously and corrective actions are a taken, otherwise whole exercise will be futile. You need not to know the reasons of leaving the persons, because in most of the cases we know that, what we want to know is the gaps that are required to be filled up. It should also be ensured that the feedback is honest.

I would like go further and suggest that you should have informal small discussions with people to understand their satisfaction level and take suitable actions and not to wait till last moment.

Unless you start learning to take the negative feedback or criticism in right perspective, it will eat your confidence and you will be more in trouble by repeating mistakes or wrong doings. It appears that you are unable to organise and control your emotions at workplace which is very necessary for peace of mind and focusing on work. I suggest that first you should understand the underlying message behind the criticism or negative feedback and not the tone. Sometimes tone may overpower or distort the real message; your boss wants to pass on. Try to maintain your calm and don’t get provoked. Try to find out the real cause of such negative reaction. What triggered him to respond negatively? What was the source? Address the cause so that it does not happen again.

In case you feel that the criticism is just unwanted, irrelevant and only due to the reason of frustration of your boss for some other reason, then politely accept it, put your correct facts and make him realise that he dialled wrong number. Here your skill of communicating without hurting his ego will play an important role. Do not challenge him. But show him the correct picture. Let him realise later on that he should not have criticised his subordinate.

You should not forget that criticising someone at his face is not easy. It requires courage even by the boss. So, don’t take it negative all the time. It may also be due to the reason that your boss expects much more from you and you have failed yourself on his expectations. In many cases you receive negative reaction because your boss cares enough about you to share honestly and give you a chance to improve further. He may be your well wisher too. 

While it is a common premise that workplace sexual harassment is limited to interactions between male bosses and females subordinates. This is actually not true.Sexual harassment can occur between any co-workers, including the following:

(a) Subordinate harassment of a superior.

(b) Same sex harassment -men can harass men; Women can harass women.

(c) Offenders can be supervisors ,co-workers, or third party non-employee such as customer , vendors and suppliers.

A collective agreement is an agreement in writing between an employer and the trade union representing employees of the employer which contains provisions respecting conditions of employment, rates of pay, hours of work, and the rights and obligations of the parties to the agreement. Ordinarily the agreement is for a definite period such as one, two or three years, but not less than twelve months. Under some conditions, amendments are made to agreements by mutual consent during the term of the agreement in order to deal with special circumstances.

 It is the primary responsibility of the employer to get the factory/establishment registered under ESI Scheme. Employer has to register all workmen including contract labours immediately on entering the insurable employment, which is very helpful in case of any unexpected industrial accidents. (Please note that employees cannot be registered posthumously.)

Apart from providing medical benefits including super specialty treatment, Insured Persons and their family members, ESI Scheme also provides cash compensation to insured persons for loss of wages or earning capacity in times of physical distress arising out of sickness or employment injury. Maternity benefit to Insured women, family pension to the Dependants in case of death due to employment injury, unemployment allowance, physical/vocational rehabilitation etc. are available under ESI Scheme. Commuting accidents are also covered under ESI Act at present.

If you are covered by the Employment Act and you are dismissed without notice, you may approach the Labour Department to claim indemnity. Alternatively you can make claim at the Industrial Relations Department for wrongful dismissal under Section 20 of the IR Act.

ESI Scheme provides total social security protection to the employees of a covered factory/establishment. Employers are absolved of the liabilities of workmen compensation Act and Maternity Benefit Act. Once covered under ESI Act, employers are protected from the liabilities of sickness, employment injury and accidental death of their workmen including commuting accident. ESI Scheme aims for a healthy workforce to contribute to the productivity of the nation.

If the PF wage of an employee is more than Rs 15,000 per month: The minimummandatory PF contribution (and deduction) shall be Rs 1,800 per month (12% of Rs 15,000). ... If your monthly basic salary is less than Rs. 15,000, you have you contribute to EPF, else it is voluntary.