ImpactMojoLabour Laws for NGOs, annotated
The employment-law obligations that land the moment your NGO has staff — EPF, ESI, gratuity, maternity, Shops & Establishments, contract labour, and the volunteers-vs-employees line — in one place. A practitioner compliance digest: for each law, who it applies to, the core duty, and a development-sector note on how it actually plays out in a small or field-based organisation.
PDF · 3 pages · seven laws · delivered to your inbox within 24 hours of payment.
Why a compliance digest?
Development organisations often treat labour compliance as an afterthought — until an audit, a funder due-diligence, or a staff dispute makes it suddenly urgent. And the duties are scattered: provident fund in one Act, insurance in another, gratuity, maternity and contract labour each in their own, and the base registration hiding in a state law most NGOs forget.
This digest pulls all seven together in a single, readable map. Unlike our verbatim Annotated Bare Acts, labour compliance turns on thresholds, wage ceilings and state rules that change — so this one is written as a practitioner digest, not a word-for-word transcription. For each law you get who it applies to, the core obligation, and a candid development-sector note — the payroll trap that quietly makes you an EPF employer, the accruing gratuity liability no funder line covers, and the misclassification risk that is the sector's most common labour exposure.
What's inside — the seven laws
- EPF — Provident Funds Act 1952. The 20-employee threshold, the 12% match, and the "consultant" payroll trap.
- ESI — State Insurance Act 1948. The 10-employee / ₹21,000-wage line and what it actually buys your lower-paid field staff.
- Gratuity — Payment of Gratuity Act 1972. The five-year rule, 15 days' wages per year, and the reserve every projectised NGO forgets to budget.
- Maternity — Maternity Benefit Act 1961. 26 weeks paid, the anti-dismissal protection, and why a women-heavy sector can't treat it as fine print.
- Shops & Establishments (state laws). The base registration most NGOs miss — and why it's state-specific.
- Contract staff — Contract Labour Act 1970. When your manpower agency makes you a "principal employer" liable for their PF/ESI lapses.
- Volunteers vs employees. The classification test — why the label you use doesn't decide it, and why misclassification is the sector's biggest labour risk.
Each law: who it applies to, the core duty (with the current thresholds and rates), and a development-sector practitioner's note. Plus a plain-English flag on how the four Labour Codes will change things once notified.
Sample
A watermarked preview of the format. The file you receive is clean, print-ready and fully yours.
Gratuity is a real, accruing liability, not an optional perk — and long-serving field staff are exactly the people who trigger it. Build it into your grant budgets and reserves from the start; projectised NGOs that ignore it face a cash shock when a five-year employee leaves and no funder line covers it.
Buy it — ₹350
Pay by UPI
Scan the code, or pay to the UPI ID below (amount ₹350).
Add your email in the payment note, or fill the form so we know where to send it.
Confirm your order
Paid? Tell us where to send the PDF. Delivered within 24 hours.
How delivery works
- Pay ₹350 by UPI (scan the QR or use impactmojo@ibl), or order on WhatsApp.
- Fill the short form with your email and the UPI reference number.
- We confirm the payment and email you the clean, print-ready PDF — within 24 hours, usually much sooner.
Questions? Contact us. Refunds per our refund policy.
Study the law free first
The free Law Guides for the Social Sector cover FCRA, CSR, POSH and more in plain English — and see How Your NGO Exists for the three vehicles a development organisation is built on.
FAQ
Is this verbatim statute like your other Annotated Bare Acts?
No — and deliberately so. Labour compliance turns on thresholds, wage ceilings and state rules that are revised periodically, so a word-for-word transcription would go stale fast. This one is a practitioner compliance digest: for each law, who it applies to, the core duty with current figures, and a development-sector note. The governing statutes are named throughout so you can go to the source.
Are the thresholds current?
They reflect the position at the time of writing (EPF 20 employees / 12%; ESI 10 employees / ₹21,000 wage ceiling / 3.25%+0.75%; gratuity 5 years / 15 days' wages; maternity 26 weeks). Because these sit in rules that change — and the four Labour Codes will consolidate several Acts once notified — the guide flags this and tells you to verify the latest notification before acting on a specific case.
Does it cover the new Labour Codes?
It flags them clearly. The four Codes (Wages; Social Security; Industrial Relations; Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions, 2019–2020) will consolidate and replace most of these Acts once fully notified. The digest maps your current duties and tells you where the Codes will change them.
Is this legal advice?
No. It's practitioner commentary to help you understand and apply the law in development work — not legal advice, and no lawyer–client relationship. For a specific matter, and for your state's Shops & Establishments Act, consult a lawyer.
What exactly do I get?
A single print-ready A4 PDF (3 pages) covering seven labour laws — EPF, ESI, Gratuity, Maternity Benefit, Shops & Establishments, Contract Labour, and the volunteers-vs-employees classification test — each with who it applies to, the core duty, and a development-sector practitioner's note.
Can I print it and use it with my team?
It's licensed for your own and your organisation's learning and field use — print it, annotate it, take it into a training. Please don't resell or post it publicly.