ESIC and the Advantages of Registering

ESIC and the Advantages of Registering

In order to provide fiscal security to workers in the case of unforeseen events, The Employee State Insurance Act 1948 was brought into force that created the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Registration is compulsory through ESIC Portal for non-seasonal factories which have a labor count upwards of 10 or more employees. Restaurants, shops, road-motor transport undertakings, cinemas including preview theaters, newspaper establishments and hotels having worker strength upwards of 20 employees are also required to be compulsorily registered through the ESIC portal.

The advantage to the workers registered under this Act are that in case of any illness or disability or even death due to employment injury, the ESIC will undertake to ensure adequate earning support to registered person and their dependents. We will explore these in more details.

Medical Support

For those workers, and their dependents, registered as Insured Person (IP) through the ESIC IP Portal or otherwise, total medical expense is covered, with no upper limit. This coverage begins from the day the worker signs up for insurable employment. The insured persons who have suffered permanent disability and the retired persons and their significant others are also entitled medical support on a token yearly payment of Rs. 120.

Illness Support

Should an IP fall sick, they can claim compensation to the tune of 70% of wage rate through ESIC IP Portal or manually, up to a period of 91 days annually. However, to avail this benefit the IP must have contributed for 78 days in a 6 months period. For serious cases and those with long-term illnesses, ESIC has the authority to confer benefits for up to 2 years to the tune of 80% of wages. Full wage benefit is also given but only in cases where the insured person is going through sterilization for 7 days for male and 14 days for female employees.

Maternity Support

Provided at the rate of full pay for a duration of 3 months with up to one-month extension on medical advice, maternity support can be applied for through ESIC IP Portal. There is a pre-requisite for applying though, that is IP should have paid about 70 days of contribution in the preceding year to be considered eligible.

Disability Support

The rate of pay allowed for disability support is 90% of wages and is eligible to be paid to insured person from day of beginning of insured employment through ESIC IP Portal even if no contribution is made. The support is paid as long as disability lasts, unless it is permanent, in which case the Medical Board decides the extent of loss of earning capacity and benefit is paid monthly according to their assessment.

Dependent’s Support

In the unfortunate case where the insured person dies of an injury related to work or occupational hazard, the survivors who were dependents are paid 90% of the wages through monthly payments, by applying through ESIC Portal or manually obtaining from ESIC branches.

Funeral Expenditure

An employee who dies after having entered insurable service under ESIC IP Portal will have the amount of Rs. 10,000 paid to his surviving dependent or the person who takes care of his funeral (/last rites).

Unemployment Support

Subject to the term that the insured person was employed upwards of three years and lost employment only due to life-long disability, retrenchment or because of shut down of factory or work place, the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana fund provides support in the form of:

1. 50% of wage rate cash allowance for a duration of one year paid via ESIC Portal or otherwise
2. For a period of one-year, medical support for IP and family is given from ESI institutions
3. For skill upgradation, the insured person may avail through ESIC Portal, payment of vocational training and all ancillary costs like travelling.

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