Man-power supply agencies are coverable under the ESI Act as Shops, but only their offices, as the premises in which those offices are functioning are utilised to render service for a price.
The persons supplied by them to do the work of the other factories or establishments cannot be treated as employees of these Man-power supply agencies, just because they got an ESI Employer’s Code Number.
A lot of evasion, manipulation and abuse of the benefits of ESI and denial of benefits takes place in the coverage and non-coverage of the employees deputed by these agencies, which use their employer code number to cover the non-coverable employees also.
The responsibility for their coverge lies only with the ultimate employer who utilizes their services. The Principal Employer for the employees deputed by these agencies to work in other factories or establishments are only those employers who utilize the services of these employees and not the man-power supply agencies which depute them.
Relevant details in this regard are provided in the Powerpoint Presentation available in the following link:
Flourishing ESIC 