MITIGATING BRIBERY, CORRUPTION & CORPORATE RISKS WITH

MITIGATING BRIBERY, CORRUPTION & CORPORATE RISKS WITH AUTOMATED COMPLIANCE

Compfie addresses a major Industrial concern

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, India’s no. 1 company for Compliance in association with 3W, a leading Transformational Consulting and Training Company in Sri Lanka, organised its 2nd Global Compliance Webinar recently.  

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited introduced its Global E-Governance & Compliance Platform - ‘Compfie’ in Sri Lanka in association with 3W Consulting headquartered in Colombo, last year. This move to position ‘Compfie’ in Sri Lanka’s compliance market marked a major development for the strategic country partnership between Aparajitha and 3W.

The virtual webinar session was about understanding compliance management and the role technology & digitisation can play in transforming financial compliance for organisations.

Speaking on the importance of the session, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited said, “With increased regulatory changes and the ‘new normal’ brought forth by COVID-19, One major trend in corporate compliance to watch out for in 2022 will be the substantial increase in digital transformation in terms of automation and simplification of compliance-related processes. Any e-compliance architecture needs to be designed to provide complete visibility and a bird’s eye view of the compliance status across the country, state, and unit levels. It is equally important for experts to provide round-the-clock support in updating country-wise Industry-specific laws and auto-configuring the software with an appropriate domain covering laws under Labour, Fiscal, Corporate, Commercial, EHS, and industry-specific catering to large global organisations, medium and small firms,” adds Krishnan.

"Sri Lankan Companies today have rapidly prioritised Compliance, as Boards have stepped up their commitment to Corporate Governance driven by SEC, Market and regulatory dynamics. Since the outbreak of the Pandemic, Corporates have faced the challenge of facilitating "Work from Anywhere" and operating through Hybrid Models has further compounded the risk of non-compliance. Companies are required to comply with Regulatory Standards, around the value chain in their operating model covering Fiscal, HR, and Environment Functions. A Board can keep track of the Compliances spread across the different Business Functions and different job responsibilities through our Compliance solution “Compfie”; a fully integrated online Compliance Management tool designed to Global Standards with a dynamic Country, Industry, and Corporate Legal Knowledge Management System embedded. This Legal KMS in Compfie also caters to specific Sectors, Industry Compliance Standards, and requirements,” said Mr. Stefan Moraes, Managing Director, 3W Consulting.

Some of the major aspects discussed in the session included; how digitization can help businesses in…

 §  Mitigating Operational Challenges in Tracking Compliances for Multiple Location / Multiple Regulatory Compliances - Department of Registrar of Companies (DRC), Inland Revenue Department (IRD), Central bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (IRCSL) and Sri Lanka Customs (SLC)

§  Complying with all applicable laws and management responsibility as per Sri Lanka Auditing Standards (SLAuS 250)

§  Preventing and detecting Money Laundering & Financing Risks while dealing with customers through Financial Transaction Reporting Act (FTRA), Designated Non-Finance Business (DNFB), and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Regulations

§  Keeping an organisation up-to-date with proactive alerts on the changes in the applicable laws and regulations together with relevant guidelines, determinations, directions, notices, and circulars by regulators (CBSL, IRD, DRC, IRCSL, FIU, SEC, etc.)Avoiding the risk of missing any important Financial Compliances – Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Compliance Obligations, Customer Due Diligence, and United Nations Sanctions, Outsourcing Regulations, Basel III and Sri Lankan Financial Reporting Standards (SLFRS)

APARAJITHA BETS BIG ON LABOUR LAW

             APARAJITHA BETS BIG ON LABOUR LAW COMPLIANCE

 

In view of the labour law reforms in 2020, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s no.1 company for Compliance has beefed up its operations to aid Corporates in staying compliant with the new norms.  

 

Complying to Labour Reforms

 

In a major boost to labour reforms, four laws, namely Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020; Industrial Relations Code, 2020; Code on Wages 2019 and Code on Social Security, 2020 have been created by merging 25 Central labour laws. This restructuring will ensure the well-being of industrial workers and give a boost to economic growth. The new labour codes have been designed to universalise minimum wages and timely payment of wages, while also giving priority to the occupational safety of the workers.

 

“The new labour codes have been designed to universalize minimum wages and timely payment of wages, while also giving priority to the occupational safety of the workers. The labour reforms will give proper controls to stop exploitation of the labourers. The government’s step to introduce reforms and restructure the entire scattered legal labour law framework during this lockdown could be a step towards a fair work industry. The primary objective will be to safeguard the rights of the employees. And we are confident that we can help companies stay compliant…something we have been successfully doing for the last two decades,” says Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Service Private Limited.

 

The idea to extend the concept of minimum wages and social security through these codes to the unorganised workers too is a kind of big social inclusion that the labour laws could now reach out to 500 million workers.  This is a big step towards achieving ‘equity’.

The Code on Wages will ensure that there is no discrimination in an establishment on the grounds of gender, job roles and that there are reasonable wages and eligible bonuses for the works done in comparison with similar work done by another person elsewhere. These reforms will help bolster India’s ‘Ease of doing business’ credentials on account of the codes ensuring personal and professional satisfaction of employees and owner’s concern on pay, safety, and social security.

 

The Aparajitha Advantage

 

Aparajitha utilises tools like Compfie, which is its e-compliance platform whose architecture is specifically designed to provide complete visibility and a bird’s eye view of the compliance status across Global, Country, State, and Unit levels. This platform provides round-the-clock support in updating country-wise industry-specific laws covering domains under Labour, Fiscal, Corporate, Commercial, EHS, Industry Specific catering and now Labour Codes to large global organisations, medium and small firms.

 

Aparajitha currently offers compliance services to over 1400 clients ranging from start-ups to Industrial giants to multinational companies to reputed Corporate houses across industries, regions, and segments. Its 20 years of compliance expertise has led it to expand its operations out of the nation with the strategic alliance with Sri Lanka headquartered 3W Consulting being the most recent one. 

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the dynamics of the compliance industry especially with the addition of new legislations post the world economic shutdown. Aparajitha has been one of the fewest organizations within the country which worked to update the shutdown companies about the changes that took place while its operations seized so that the companies could resume their operations without any hassles.

Aparajitha’s ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ decodes if you are

 Aparajitha’s ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ decodes if you are code- ready?

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s no.1 company for Compliance, today organized a ’60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, Code on Social Security, and The Industrial Relations Code. 

The webinar was aimed at decoding the nuances of the labor codes which were passed in the Parliament in September last year and is expected followed by companies and organizations all around the country. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Service Private Limited said, “While the Code on Wages was passed by Parliament in 2019 the three other codes that are The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, Code on Social Security and The Industrial Relations Code did not get its clearance from both the Houses until last year. The rules are being drafted and if things go as planned the chances are brighter for the implementation of all the four codes at one go from April 2021 as originally planned by the Government of India. Thus, it becomes necessary for the companies in India to be fully prepared to embrace the changes that are likely to be brought by the codes with its implementation. The session aims to discuss this and get people ready for such a change.”

The webinar covered and answered the following aspects:

·                     The Social Security Code, 2020

(A) On how the Social Security Code, 2020 aims to provide better social security benefits such as provident fund, insurance, and gratuity to workers.

(B) On how it extends the reach of the Employees' State Insurance Corporation and the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (which regulate benefits such as provident fund, insurance, pension, etc.) to the workers in the unorganized sector. 

(C) On how the SS Code further stipulates gratuity benefit for fixed term employees without any condition for minimum service period as envisaged under the current regime.

(D) On how provisions will be made to formulate various schemes for providing comprehensive social security to workers in the unorganized sector and a “Social Security Fund” will be initiated to implement these schemes.

(E) On the making a national database for unorganized sector workers and registration of all these workers on an online portal through a simple procedure of Self Certification.

 ·                      Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code, 2020

A. How the OSH Code aims to regulate the occupational safety, health, and working conditions of workers employed in all establishments. 

B. On how the OSH Code seeks to widen its applicability on different types of workers such as audio-visual workers, inter-state migrants or sales promotion employees. 

C. On how it attempts to promote gender equality by allowing women workers to work at night subject to obtaining their consent. 

D. On how the OSH Code further introduces the concept of deemed registration of establishments to circumvent the prolonged delays in administrative processes and provides that if an establishment is registered under any concerned law, it shall be deemed to be registered under the OSH Code

 ·                     Industrial Relations Code, 2020

A. How the IR Code aims to streamline the laws regulating industrial disputes and trade unions within the country. 

B. How the IR Code has introduced various aspects such as increasing the threshold of workers to three hundred (300) for obtaining the consent of the concerned government in case of lay off, retrenchment, or closure of the establishment.

 The webinar was moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited.

APARAJITHA’S ‘60 MINUTES COMPLIANCE’ WEBINAR EXPLAINS

Aparajitha’s ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ Webinar EXPLAINS BONUS AND GRATUITY UNDER THE CURRENT ECONOMY

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s no.1 company for Compliance, today organized a ’60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss about the Bonus and Gratuity payment in relation to the current scenario of the economic slowdown. 

The webinar was aimed at explaining the how the concept of bonus and gratuity payment has been impacted during this stint of Work from Home as a result of the ongoing pandemic under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1971 which act as the legislative law providing these provisions. It also highlighted how the current pay structure had been realigned with the help of salary cuts and incentive relaxations to boost the economy amidst this crisis period.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Service Private Limited said, “The concept of bonus and gratuity act became a statutory payment governed by the provisions of Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and Payment of Gratuity Act, 1971 and are important to labor laws that recognize the rights and value of an employee. However, the disruption and its effects on industries and work due to this pandemic have seen many several states announce drastic relaxations to certain labor laws and have also come out with notifications and ordinances containing exemptions from compliance with a few labor laws.

While these relaxations give more flexibility to employers and business owners to sustain losses during this crisis period, it threatens the social security and rightful income of the employee. Although the situation is bad and recovering from it might take a long time. It is important for the workforce to know what is happening from a Compliance Point of View so that they are not taken advantage of. ” 

The webinar covered different aspects of Bonus and Gratuity payment…

•  What legislative laws provide these provision and how denying these can be a violation of labor laws  
•  The various Internal compliance process to be handled related to the conditions, services put upon employees to be eligible to avail these provisions
• How to calculate the payment in reference to the acts.
• How these acts have been impacted by the current changes in the economy 
• When and if these relaxations will be reversed post-pandemic.

The webinar, which saw participation by 1185 individuals comprising of HR professionals and mid & senior level personnel across various industry sectors, was moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited

APARAJITHA’S 60 MINUTES COMPLIANCE

APARAJITHA’S ‘60 MINUTES COMPLIANCE’ WEBINAR DECODES 

THE OSHW CODE

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s no.1 company for Compliance, today organised a ’60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss the Occupational Safety, Healthy and Working Conditions (OSHW) Code.

The webinar was aimed at explaining the OSHW Code for organisations employing at least 10 workers, mines and docks. Apart from prescribing health and safety provisions that apply to all organisations, the Code also outlines special requirements for different types of organisations (such as factories and mines) and workers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Service Private Limited said, “The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 23, 2019. The Code consolidates 13 labour laws relating to safety, health and working conditions.  These include the Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952 and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970.  As the lockdown eases in phases and will subsequently be lifted, OSHW becomes all the more critical atleast till the COVID-19 scare remains. Today’s webinar was more of an educative session on the key provisions of the OSHW Code and how it needs to be implemented in the post-COVID-19 era.”

The webinar covered and answered the following aspects of OSHW…

§  Who is covered under the Code?

§  Does the Code create special provisions for different types of organisations and workers?

§  What are the duties of employers and employees?

§  Will work hours be uniform for all workers and employees?

§  What working conditions and welfare facilities does the Code provide for?

§  What is the leave policy for workers?

§  What are the authorities set up under the Code?

§  How is the Code being enforced?

§  Does the Code provide gender specific provisions?

The webinar, which saw participation by 827 individuals comprising of HR professionals and mid & senior level personnel across various industry sectors, was moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited.

PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT

PREVENTION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE

~ Aparajitha’s ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ Webinar addresses Physical & Virtual 

Workplace Concerns ~

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s no.1 company for 

Compliance, today organised a ’60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss the 

Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace. The webinar aimed at 

discussing and providing clarity for women on how they should protect 

themselves against sexual abuses and exploitation at workplaces in adherence 

to The Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, 

Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, 

Aparajitha Corporate Service Private Limited said, “There are important 

dimensions of workplace conduct and safety which women need to be aware. 

At the same time employers must remain conscious of the potential of 

blurring the lines of a professional relationship between employees. 

We do have many rights and regulations that are proactive in safeguarding 

a woman’s right to dignity and respect at the workplace. Today’s webinar 

is more of an advisory to provide awareness to working women 

professionals on how they can safeguard themselves from such 

harassment and tackle such issues on and off workplaces.”

Presently, sexual harassment has even broadened its boundaries into 

the current ‘work from home’ scenario on account of the COVID-19 

lockdown. Even in the context of video calls, which have become the 

‘new normal’ these days, proper training and sensitisation are
important on topics like dressing appropriately and keeping the 

conversation limited to work. With telecommunication today accounting 

for a large proportion of work, HR leaders will have to grapple with 

increasingly complex scenarios under the POSH Act. These are not limited 

to the duration of the lockdown. Employers should be cognisant of this 

extension of the workplace and must take all steps to ensure that the 

parallel virtual workplace remains as safe and free of intended or 

unintended harassment as the brick and mortar one.

The webinar highlighted workplaces should maintain a prevention, 

prohibition and redressal mechanism to harassments as this 

contributes to the realization of the right to equality of gender.

Numerous scenarios of harassment towards women in this current 

work from home in the form of inappropriate texts, option to 

audio-only mode in meetings were also discussed in an attempt to 

educate people on how this harassment has found a way to still be 

active in this pandemic crisis period work situation.

The webinar, which saw participation by 832 individuals comprising 

of HR professionals, mid & senior level personnel and women 

employees from Corporates across various industry sectors, 

was moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief 

Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited.

COVID-19 AND LABOUR LAW COMPLIANCE

COVID-19 AND LABOUR LAW COMPLIANCE – VERSION 2.0

In view of the tremendous success of the ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar  held on April 9, 2020 and requests pouring in from several industry quarters and professionals to organise a second session in order to address few more pertinent questions pertaining to Labour Law Compliances vis-à-vis COVID-19, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s No. 1 company for Compliance, today organised Version 2.0 of the ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss the impact on Labour Law Compliances due to the Coronavirus lockdown. These sessions are aimed towards benefitting the companies and their Human Resource fraternity by providing several guidelines in order to help them survive through the COVID-19 crisis.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited said, “We are extremely delighted with the overwhelming response we received for the webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on Labour Law Compliances. The ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ webinars series are in line with Aparajitha’s vision for continuous endeavor in bringing knowledge expertise on Regulatory compliance to organisations, given the fact that the co-existence of Labour and Capital is of paramount importance at all times, and more so when posed with a global challenge such as COVID-19. Version 2.0 of the webinar held today was more of a response session to hundreds of queries which came in from the organisations, which could not be addressed in the earlier webinar due to time constraints.”

Some of the key aspects today’s webinar highlighted and addressed include…

§  Key legislations based on which the measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 are taken

§  Type of industries which are given relaxation

§  Precautions to be taken by an establishment in case if it is functioning

§  Liability of employers to pay wages to the employees during the lockdown days

§  Layoff / leave / holiday aspect of the lockdown

§  Recruitments and termination of employees during the lockdown period

§  Extra wages for employees coming to office

§  Entitlement of ‘overtime’ for employees working from home

§  Concessions for the employers in terms of labour compliance

While 1000 plus individuals participated in the first webinar on Labour Law Compliances vis-à-vis COVID-19, Version 2.0 saw participation by more than 800 individuals comprising of HR professionals, mid & senior level personnel from Corporates across various industry sectors. Both the webinars were moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited.

COVID-19 AND LABOUR LAW COMPLIANCE

COVID-19 AND LABOUR LAW COMPLIANCE – VERSION 2.0

In view of the tremendous success of the ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar  held on April 9, 2020 and requests pouring in from several industry quarters and professionals to organise a second session in order to address few more pertinent questions pertaining to Labour Law Compliances vis-à-vis COVID-19, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s No. 1 company for Compliance, today organised Version 2.0 of the ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss the impact on Labour Law Compliances due to the Coronavirus lockdown. These sessions are aimed towards benefitting the companies and their Human Resource fraternity by providing several guidelines in order to help them survive through the COVID-19 crisis.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited said, “We are extremely delighted with the overwhelming response we received for the webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on Labour Law Compliances. The ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ webinars series are in line with Aparajitha’s vision for continuous endeavor in bringing knowledge expertise on Regulatory compliance to organisations, given the fact that the co-existence of Labour and Capital is of paramount importance at all times, and more so when posed with a global challenge such as COVID-19. Version 2.0 of the webinar held today was more of a response session to hundreds of queries which came in from the organisations, which could not be addressed in the earlier webinar due to time constraints.”

Some of the key aspects today’s webinar highlighted and addressed include…

§  Key legislations based on which the measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 are taken

§  Type of industries which are given relaxation

§  Precautions to be taken by an establishment in case if it is functioning

§  Liability of employers to pay wages to the employees during the lockdown days

§  Layoff / leave / holiday aspect of the lockdown

§  Recruitments and termination of employees during the lockdown period

§  Extra wages for employees coming to office

§  Entitlement of ‘overtime’ for employees working from home

§  Concessions for the employers in terms of labour compliance

While 1000 plus individuals participated in the first webinar on Labour Law Compliances vis-à-vis COVID-19, Version 2.0 saw participation by more than 800 individuals comprising of HR professionals, mid & senior level personnel from Corporates across various industry sectors. Both the webinars were moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited.

COVID-19 AND LABOUR LAW COMPLIANCE

COVID-19 AND LABOUR LAW COMPLIANCE

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s No. 1 company for Compliance, organised a ‘60 Minutes Compliance’ webinar to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on Labour Law Compliance. The webinar was aimed towards benefitting the companies and their Human Resource fraternity by providing several guidelines in order to help them survive through the COVID-19 crisis.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited said, “Over the past month or so, COVID-19 has completely changed the way Corporates used to conduct their businesses…not just in India, but globally. Given the current scenario, while the lockdown is the best decision to be taken to ensure health and safety of the people, an economic slowdown is inevitable on account of several businesses across sectors being severely affected. Today’s webinar was more of an advisory from a Compliance perspective on how to minimise the impact of the slowdown on the workforce.”

The Webinar, which saw registration of more than 1000 participation by individuals comprising of HR professionals, mid & senior level personnel from Corporates across various industry sectors, was moderated and addressed by Mr. K. Varadan, Chief Consultation Officer, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited.

The webinar highlighted the extremely important and relevant labour law facets to be kept in mind in the presently volatile scenario.

The ’60 Minutes Compliance’ webinars are in line with Aparajitha’s continuous endeavour in bringing knowledge enhancement to organisations, given the fact that the co-existence of Labour and Capital is of paramount importance at all times, and more so when posed with a global challenge such as COVID-19.

APARAJITHA BETS BIG ON GLOBAL E-COMPLIANCE

APARAJITHA BETS BIG ON GLOBAL E-COMPLIANCE

~ ‘Compfie’ redefines the dynamics of Compliance practice ~

Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited, the country’s No. 1 company for Compliance, has introduced a Global e-compliance platform called ‘Compfie’.

With the determined dream to digitalise compliance management across organisations, Aparajitha envisioned the need for a unique technology platform. Thus was born ‘Compfie’, an intelligent Software that enables organisations to become ‘Model Employer’ by being fully compliant, establishing powerful compliance tracking process, avoiding financial and reputation risks and unwanted board room worries. Organisations can now mitigate their compliance risks and stay smart with this e-compliance platform.

‘Compfie’ is the brainchild of Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan, Managing Director, Aparajitha Corporate Services Private Limited and his CXOs who worked passionately to transform a visionary idea into a futuristic global product. Backed by a highly energetic team consisting of more than 1200 plus compliance experts, the company is seriously dedicated to achieving customer delight with the comprehensive compliance management tool.

“At Aparajitha, it is our constant endeavour to create benchmarks and constantly upgrade. We understand that real business success cannot be measured by market share or business volume alone. We know that long-term, sustainable growth can be achieved only by real client satisfaction and by adopting a responsible attitude towards the compliance needs of our clients. This ethos sits at the heart of Aparajitha and the way we work. ‘Compfie’ is in line with this endeavour. It’s a cloud-based global platform whose DNA is powered by our 20 years of Compliance Knowledge and expertise across industries which  monitors, ensures and drives an organizations Compliance performance; it also serves as an audit-ready tool with the required dashboards representing the current status and compliance reports of the organisation,” says Mr. Nagaraj Krishnan.

‘Compfie’ architecture is designed to provide complete visibility and a bird’s eye view of the compliance status across Global, Country, State and Unit levels. Our Compliance experts provide round the clock support in updating Country wise Industry specific laws and auto configuring the software with appropriate domain covering Laws under Labour, Fiscal, Corporate, Commercial, EHS , and Industry Specific catering to  large global organisations, medium and small firms.