57. Welfare Officer.– Employer of every factory, mine and plantation shall ensure that:-

(i) welfare officers are appointed as prescribed below-

(a) the employer of every establishment mentioned above ordinarily employing between two hundred and fifty and upto five hundred workers appoints at least one welfare officer, and where the number of workers exceeds five hundred, an additional welfare officer for every additional five hundred workers or fraction thereof over five hundred is appointed;

(b) in every establishment mentioned above where both male and female workers are employed, the number of women welfare officers to be appointed shall be in proportion to the women workers employed and where the number of women employed is more than one hundred and the total number of women workers does not exceed one thousand, an additional woman welfare officer is appointed;

(c) where there is more than one welfare officer appointed, one of them is designated as the Chief Welfare Officer and the others as welfare officers;

(ii) person appointed as Welfare Officer has obtained a post graduate degree or diploma in social work or human resources management or labour welfare from any institution recognised by the Central or State Government in this behalf; and has knowledge of the language spoken by the majority of the workers in every establishment mentioned above.

(iii) the appointment is intimated by the employer electronically or otherwise to Inspector-cum-Facilitator, giving the details of qualifications, etc. of the officer appointed and the conditions of their service.

(iv) (a) a Welfare Officer is given appropriate status corresponding to that of the other executives of every establishment mentioned above and appointed on an executive or officer pay scale;

(b) the conditions of service of a Welfare Officer are the same as that of other members of the executives or officer of corresponding status in every establishment mentioned above :

Provided that, in the case of discharge or dismissal, the Welfare Officer will have a right of appeal to the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator, whose decision thereon is final and binding upon the employer.

(v) Duties of a Welfare Officer:

(a) to establish contacts and hold consultations with a view to maintaining harmonious relations between the management and workers;

(b) to bring to the notice of the management the grievances of workers with a view to securing expeditious redressal and to act as a liaison officer between the management and workers;

(c) to study and understand the point of view of workers in order to help the management to shape and formulate labour policies and to interpret these policies to the workers in a language they can understand;

(d) to advise on compliances, obligations, statutory or otherwise, concerning regulation of working hours, maternity benefit, medical care, compensation for injuries and sickness and other welfare measures and social Security benefits;

(e) to advise on provision of welfare facilities, such as housing facilities, foodstuffs, social and recreational facilities, sanitation, individual personnel problems and education of children; and

(f) to advise the management on training of new recruits, apprentices, workers on transfer and promotion, instructors and supervisors, supervision and control of notice board and information bulletins to further education of workers and to encourage their attendance at technical institutes;

(vi) welfare officers shall not deal with disciplinary cases or appear on behalf of the management against workers or appear before a conciliation officer or tribunal on behalf of every establishment mentioned above management.