Hiring Workers Directly from Another State in Maharashtra: Is Migrant-Worker Compliance Still Relevant?

Yes. Direct recruitment does not remove the need to assess inter-State migrant-worker duties. The OSH Code definition reaches workers recruited directly by an employer and, within its wage-linked scope, workers who move independently to another state and obtain employment there. The older assumption that coverage requires recruitment through a contractor is therefore an unsafe starting point for Maharashtra employers in 2026.

The correct assessment combines the worker’s recruitment or migration facts, statutory wages, establishment headcount and the applicable government’s rules. It should not classify everyone with an out-of-state address as a migrant worker or promise a travel payment without examining entitlement. A structured intake process can answer the necessary questions without collecting an excessive personal history.

Compare three recruitment routes

A Maharashtra manufacturer may recruit directly in Odisha and appoint workers to its Pune establishment. A contractor may recruit in another state and deploy workers to the same site. A person may independently move from Bihar to Mumbai and later accept a job. The Code expressly addresses direct and contractor recruitment and self-migration, including a subsequent change of establishment within the destination state.

Record the actual sequence. Where was the person when recruited? For which work location was the engagement agreed? Did the person arrive independently and then obtain employment? Has the person changed employers within Maharashtra? These questions are more useful than asking only whether a recruitment agent received a fee.

The statutory wage qualification must also be examined. The Code states ₹18,000 per month or a higher amount notified by the Central Government for the definition. That figure concerns statutory wages, not a universal gross-pay or CTC ceiling. Review the operative definition and any applicable later notification for the employment period instead of applying an assumed gross-salary multiple.

An address is evidence, not the complete test

A permanent address outside Maharashtra can help establish the person’s native place or contact information. It does not, alone, prove how the employee obtained employment or whether the definition applies. A person born outside the state may have lived in Maharashtra for many years; another may retain a local address while having been recruited from elsewhere.

Use a short declaration recording the source state, native-place details needed for the duty, recruitment route, destination establishment and relevant dates. Explain why the information is requested. Obtain clarification where answers conflict with employment records, but do not invent a migration history to complete a form.

Keep access restricted. The ordinary supervisor may need an emergency contact and travel scheduling information, while payroll needs the facts for entitlement. Neither necessarily needs copies of every document used by HR. Update information when the worker changes address or reports an error, preserving the reason for a material correction.

Test the establishment threshold separately

Part II of the OSH Code applies to every establishment employing ten or more inter-State migrant workers, or which employed that number on any day in the preceding twelve months. The count concerns qualifying migrant workers, not every employee at the premises. It is different from the fifty contract-labour threshold in the adjacent Part.

For example, a site with twelve qualifying directly recruited migrant workers should not conclude that migrant provisions are irrelevant because it uses no staffing agency. A site with a small direct migrant cohort should also consider qualifying workers supplied by contractors when applying the establishment test. Keep the roster and legal classification so the aggregate can be explained.

Do not use the count on the last day of the month as the entire historical test. Preserve deployment dates, joiners, exits and overlapping crews. A temporary peak may matter because the statute uses any day in the preceding twelve months. Record the establishment unit used rather than splitting one operating workplace into artificial departmental counts.

Identify the government and employer responsible

Maharashtra is generally the relevant state for a private establishment situated there, subject to the Code’s appropriate-government definition and sector-specific provisions. Central-sector establishments and contractors serving qualifying central establishments require separate consideration. For OSH matters in a factory, the Code expressly identifies the state government where the factory is situated.

The source state does not automatically become the government responsible for every workplace filing merely because workers originated there. The destination establishment, its jurisdiction and the duty concerned drive the analysis. Certain duties specifically involve both states, including reporting a fatal accident or serious bodily injury to specified authorities and the next of kin.

Where a contractor is involved, set out who recruits, employs, pays and maintains records. The Code places migrant-worker facilities duties on the contractor or employer of the establishment in the terms of the provision. An outsourcing agreement should establish practical cooperation without presenting the principal employer as free of every responsibility. Do not confuse a worker’s individual registration for welfare purposes with establishment registration or a contractor licence.

Plan journey allowance as a statutory entitlement

Section 61 requires the employer to pay a lump-sum amount of fare for a to-and-fro journey between the place of employment and native place in a year, subject to the manner, minimum service, periodicity, travel class and other matters prescribed by the appropriate government. This is a specific obligation, not merely a discretionary leave-travel allowance in an executive compensation plan.

Create an entitlement sheet recording the applicable government and rule, worker classification, service period, home destination, fare basis, payment cycle and any prior payment. Preserve calculations and payment evidence. A worker’s request for advance leave and the statutory allowance can be coordinated, but should remain distinguishable in the records.

The final Central OSH Rules contain a concrete central-sphere model: a minimum of 180 days in the preceding twelve months, payment once in twelve months, and a fare standard involving at least second-class sleeper rail travel or the specified passenger-transport alternatives. They also address a worker changing employers and certifying that the earlier allowance was not availed. These are Central Rules conditions. They should not be asserted as the automatic Maharashtra state-sphere rule without establishing the operative state instrument.

For a state-sphere Maharashtra workplace, obtain the applicable final rule or valid transition instruction before committing to a particular service condition or fare class. The Maharashtra department’s 2026 index labels its OSH Labour Rules as draft. A heading describing rules as notified, or a consultation closing date, does not establish final commencement. Retain the actual Gazette relied on with the entitlement sheet.

Distinguish portability from automatic benefit payment

The Code contemplates schemes enabling a migrant worker to access public distribution benefits in the native or destination state and portability of specified welfare benefits. These provisions should inform onboarding assistance, but they do not mean every worker automatically receives every benefit after joining a company.

Identify the actual scheme, registration conditions and administrator for the benefit requested. Help workers locate their existing identifiers and avoid duplicate social-security accounts. PF and ESI coverage and contributions still follow their own operative schemes and eligibility rules. “Migrant” is not a reason to deny the ordinary benefits available to comparable workers at the establishment.

Explain the distinction between a worker database entry, a benefit application and establishment compliance. An e-Shram or other individual registration is not a substitute for paying wages, providing safe work or completing an employer filing. Similarly, a travel payment cannot compensate for missing PF enrolment where membership is mandatory.

Build a practical Maharashtra records file

The file should contain the establishment jurisdiction note, workforce count history, recruitment declarations, appointment or deployment documents, wages used for classification, contractor details, journey calculations and payment proof. Include any required establishment information submission and its acknowledgement. Record the legal basis for using a portal which still displays the previous migrant-workmen Act.

Do not simply delete historical registrations or recruitment records after Code commencement. The savings provisions preserve relevant earlier actions and instruments to the permitted extent. Review what continues, what requires updating and which historical liabilities remain. If a departmental route is unclear, send a concise factual query to the competent office and retain the written instruction rather than improvising an unsupported form.

A practice can coordinate this file alongside its wider financial work in assureOffice. The legal classification should remain documented independently. Information at assureoffice.in does not establish a migrant-registration integration or determine which state’s authority must receive a particular filing.

Example: direct recruitment followed by a job change

Assume a worker is directly recruited in another state for a Maharashtra warehouse and later moves to a second employer in Maharashtra. The first employer should retain the original recruitment facts, wage classification and service history. The second should assess the self-migration and subsequent-establishment limb rather than treating the local joining address as conclusive exclusion.

If journey allowance is claimed, examine the applicable rule and earlier payment history. Obtain a proportionate declaration or certificate where the operative rule requires it, and avoid a duplicate allowance for the same entitlement cycle. Do not require the worker to prove irrelevant facts or abandon earned benefits merely because employment changed.

An actionable onboarding checklist

Identify the recruitment route and destination establishment; apply the statutory wage definition; check the current definition ceiling; maintain the ten-person look-back count; identify the appropriate government; document contractor responsibilities; establish journey-allowance conditions; assist with actual portability schemes; preserve injury-reporting contacts for both states; and reconcile portal submissions with the current law.

Review the file when the workforce grows, a contractor changes, wages cross the relevant boundary or the establishment moves. The aim is an evidence-based classification and a workable benefit process, rather than an unsupported label attached to all workers from another state.

Frequently asked questions

1. Does coverage depend on using a recruitment agent?

No. The OSH definition expressly includes direct recruitment and also addresses self-migration within its terms. An employer should examine the worker’s actual recruitment sequence, statutory wages and destination establishment even where no intermediary or agency fee exists.

2. What if the worker moved before accepting the job?

The self-migration limb is relevant. Record when the worker came to Maharashtra and obtained employment, together with any later establishment change. Do not reject coverage simply because the employment agreement was signed after arrival or recruitment occurred locally.

3. Is an out-of-state home address sufficient?

No. It is relevant evidence but does not establish every element of the definition. Examine recruitment or migration, employment arrangement and wages. A short factual declaration and employment records are more useful than assuming all people sharing an address category have identical legal status.

4. What is the statutory wage figure in the definition?

The Code states ₹18,000 per month or a higher amount notified centrally. Apply the statutory wage definition and the operative notification for the period. Do not automatically compare this figure with gross salary, annual CTC or an assumed doubled amount.

5. How many migrant workers trigger the specialised Part?

The Code uses ten or more qualifying migrant workers employed at the establishment on any day in the preceding twelve months. Keep historical counts. This is a separate test from contract-labour licensing and should not be replaced with the fifty-person contract-labour figure.

6. Do directly hired migrants and contractor migrants need separate counts?

Keep separate source records but assess the establishment’s aggregate qualifying migrant workforce under the applicable test. A contractor-only spreadsheet can omit direct recruits. Equally, verify actual deployment and avoid counting the same worker twice during an agency handover.

7. Which state receives establishment details?

Identify the destination establishment’s appropriate government and the specific filing requirement. The source state is not automatically the receiving authority for every duty. Some matters expressly involve both states, so the answer must be tied to the actual information or report concerned.

8. Does every Maharashtra workplace use Central Rules?

No. Establish the appropriate government and relevant rule-making power. Central-sector cases need their central framework; state-sphere Maharashtra duties need operative state rules or valid transitional instruments. A central procedural example should not be applied universally without that analysis.

9. Is journey allowance the same as voluntary LTA?

No. Section 61 creates a specific fare-payment duty within the migrant-worker framework. A contractual leave-travel benefit may have different conditions and tax treatment. Reconcile any overlapping payment carefully rather than assuming a general CTC allowance satisfies the statutory obligation.

10. Can we promise every migrant airfare home?

The entitlement and travel standard depend on the applicable rule and facts. Identify native place, service condition, periodicity and fare basis before making a commitment. The Code does not create an unrestricted universal airfare reimbursement merely because an employee originated elsewhere.

11. Are the Central Rules’ 180 days automatically Maharashtra’s condition?

No. That is the final Central Rules’ condition for its applicable framework. A Maharashtra state-sphere employer must establish the operative state rule or valid transition instruction. Keep the actual instrument with the calculation instead of relying on a generic national checklist.

12. What if the worker changes employer within Maharashtra?

The definition expressly recognises subsequent establishment changes in the destination state. Reassess the worker’s facts and preserve earlier service and payment evidence relevant to benefits. A new local appointment letter does not automatically remove the person from the statutory category.

13. How can duplicate journey payments be avoided?

Use the entitlement cycle and documentary requirements in the operative rule. Obtain a relevant declaration or prior-payment evidence and reconcile it with the new claim. Avoid collecting unnecessary historical records or withholding a valid entitlement merely because the previous employer is slow to respond.

14. Does individual welfare registration replace employer compliance?

No. An individual database or benefit registration does not discharge establishment registration, wages, safety, contributions or reporting duties. Track these obligations separately and retain their respective acknowledgements. A worker identity number is not an employer exemption certificate.

15. Are migrant workers entitled to ordinary establishment benefits?

The Code addresses extending benefits available to workers of the establishment, alongside suitable working conditions. Apply actual PF, ESI and other relevant laws to the facts. Do not deny ordinary mandatory benefits on the ground that employment is temporary or the worker comes from another state.

16. What should happen after a serious injury?

Arrange immediate assistance and preserve the incident details. The migrant provisions require consideration of reporting to specified authorities in both states and the worker’s next of kin. Other safety, ESI, compensation and insurer notifications must be assessed separately and promptly.

17. Can we rely on an old migrant-workmen portal label?

Only after establishing that it remains the authorised route for the duty during transition. Preserve the current departmental direction and submission acknowledgement. The label cannot change the statutory definition or excuse review of new direct-recruitment and self-migration coverage.

18. Should historical registration records be destroyed?

No. They may establish earlier compliance, saved permissions and historical liabilities. Review transition requirements and retain the underlying recruitment and deployment records. Repeal of the earlier Act does not mean all preceding actions or unpaid obligations disappeared.

19. How much personal information should onboarding collect?

Collect the facts needed for classification, emergency contact, native-place journey calculation and applicable benefit processes. Explain the purpose and restrict access. A compliance exercise should not demand unrelated family or travel history merely because the employee previously lived elsewhere.

20. Can assureOffice decide migrant-worker status?

The decision requires the statutory definition and verified employment facts. assureOffice can sit within a practice’s broader financial workflow, but classification, entitlement and government submission routes need their own documented assessment. Do not infer an automated specialist filing capability without verification.