ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS’ CONFEDERATION
(Registered under the Trade Unions Act 1926, Registration No.3427/Delhi)
6th Floor, E-Block, Samriddhi Bhavan, 1, Strand Road, Kolkata -700 001

c/o State Bank of India Officers’ Association (Bengal Circle)

Circular No. 2021/19

Date: 01.03.2021

Dear Comrade,

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: TREATMENT OF PAYMENT / REIMBURSEMENT OF HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE MADE BY THE BANK MANAGEMENT – FOR TAX PURPOSE

We reproduce hereunder the text of the joint communique from four officers’ organisations addressed to the Chairman, CBDT, New Delhi dated 01.03.2021 on the captioned subject for your information. Copy of the letter has also been sent to the Chairman, IBA and MD & CEOs of all banks.

With revolutionary greetings,

sd/-
(Soumya Datta)
General Secretary

ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS’ CONFEDERATION (AIBOC)
ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION (AIBOA)
INDIAN NATIONAL BANK OFFICERS’ CONGRESS (INBOC)
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF BANK OFFICERS (NOBO)

The Chairman,
Central Board of Direct Taxes,
North Block,
NEW DELHI – 110 002.

Date: 01.03.2021

Respected Sir,

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: TREATMENT OF PAYMENT / REIMBURSEMENT OF HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE MADE BY THE BANK MANAGEMENT – FOR TAX PURPOSE

At the outset, we, the four officers’ organisations viz. AIBOC-AIBOA-INBOC-NOBO, representing the entire fraternity of officers in the banking industry, convey our sincere gratitude to you for providing breathing time by extending time norms for various income-tax-related activities as a solace to the taxpayers against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a well-known fact that bank employees and officers, being part of the country’s financial army, have been rendering uninterrupted and yeoman service from the front line and therefore have been exposed to the contagion. More than lakh bank employees and officers and their family members have been affected by Coronavirus and many have succumbed to the deadly virus.

Sir, we wish to point out that the banks, as a part of the industry-wide bipartite settlement, are reimbursing the hospitalisation medical expenditure of employees within certain limits for the medical treatment taken by them from various hospitals for COVID-19 treatment. This reimbursement is of two types – direct payment to the hospital and reimbursement to the employee against relevant bills.

Any reimbursement of medical expenditure on account of hospitalisation is being classified into taxable and non-taxable income / perquisite for the employees. This classification is based on the specific diseases provided for in Circular no. 747 dated 02.12.1996 issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes. COVID-19 is not a part of the said list of specific diseases.

Consequently, the reimbursement of hospitalisation expenditure for COVID-19 being spent / reimbursed by the bank management to the employees is being classified as taxable.

Sir, it is a hard reality that the hospitals are charging hefty amounts for treating COVID-19 patients. It ranges from Rs.4.00 lakh to Rs.15.00 lakh depending on the severity of the disease. The employees are incurring huge amounts towards other related expenditure apart from the hospital bills. Unfortunately, after incurring such expenditure, many of our employees and their dependents did not survive.

Most of the senior officers / employees are in 30% tax slab and when the said reimbursement is added to their taxable income, they have to pay 30% of the said reimbursement amount as tax – ranging from Rs.1.20 lakh to Rs.5.20 lakh, even though there is no profit element or gain is there out of such payment / reimbursement of medical expenses made by the bank management.

The guidelines of CBDT about specific diseases are of 1996 and several new diseases have cropped up since then. Needless to emphasise, COVID-19 is one of the latest additions to critical diseases ever faced by the mankind.

Hence, considering the fact that the reimbursement / payment of medial expense made by the bank to its employees / officers is towards the treatment charges made by the hospitals and that there is no profit element to the employees, we urge upon your good office to revisit the list of specified diseases and notify a revised list of specific diseases including COVID-19, which will certainly be of immense help to the affected employees and / or their families.

We are certain that your good office will take a pragmatic and sympathetic view in the matter and issue necessary directives in this regard.

With regards,
Yours sincerely,

Sd /-
(Soumya Datta)
General Secretary
AIBOC

Sd /-
(Nagarajan S)
General Secretary
AIBOA

Sd /-
(Prem Kumar Makker)
General Secretary
INBOC

Sd/-
(Viraj Tikekar)
General Secretary
NOBO

The post COVID-19 TREATMENT OF PAYMENT / REIMBURSEMENT OF HOSPITAL EXPENDITURE MADE BY THE BANK MANAGEMENT – FOR TAX PURPOSE appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS’ CONFEDERATION
(Registered under the Trade Unions Act 1926, Registration No. 3427/ Delhi)
6th Floor, E-Block, Samriddhi Bhavan, 1, Strand Road, Kolkata -700 001
c/o State Bank of India Officers’ Association (Bengal Circle)
Phone: 2210-1234, Fax: (033) 2210-2210

Circular No. 2021/06

Date: 29.01.2021

To All Affiliates (Please Circulate)

DEARNESS ALLOWANCE

The Index Numbers for the quarter ended December 2020 are as under:

Accordingly, Dearness Allowance is payable to Officers on 374 (i.e.341 +33) slabs with effect from 01-02-2021 as against 341 slabs for the previous quarter. The rates of Dearness Allowance at various stages of basic pay are furnished overleaf. The rates worked out are as per the industry level scales up to Scale VII including SBI. Please note that DA of Rs.13.86 is to be added at every stage (difference amount of increase on Learning allowance).

New DA Chart for Bank employees

With greetings,
Yours comradely,
(Soumya Datta)
General Secretary

Bank Employees DA Table in PDF Click Here

Bank Holidays 2021 – List of Bank Holidays in 2021 India

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In today’s UFBU meeting the discussion revolved around two issues:

A) The issue of extending fraternal support by UFBU constituents to AIBOC on 21st December’18.

B) The view of all constituents on the decision of AIBOC of not taking part in further talks, and also to seek opinion of each affiliate whether they would be taking part in talks should IBA convene any meeting.

On the first issue, there was no unanimity amongst constituents, hence, UFBU Convenor left the decision to individual affiliates.

We are happy to share that some affiliates openly expressed their support and also agreed to join the Dharna at Delhi scheduled on 14th December’18

AIBOC also categorically stated that in future we will also take a call on extending fraternal support, should any affiliate call for a strike or announce any agitational program.

On the second issue, all other affiliates expressed that they would be joining future talks.

UFBU Convenor, requested AIBOC to reconsider the decision of not taking part in further talks.

During the deliberation, AIBOC clarified it’s position that we are firm and resolute in our stand of going ahead with the strike and not taking part in further talks unless the mandate issue was settled.

We also expressed that after assessing the impact of our strike, we will take stock, discuss with all our affiliates and chalk out our future course of action.

General Secretary.
AIBOC

The post Bank Employees Wage Revision – UFBU Meeting 12.12.2018 appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

“It has been decided to call upon all our Officers not to attend/respond to the ‘official’ SMS/WhatsApp messages, received from their Controlling Authority/Zonal Heads between 8pm and 8am”

JOINT APPEAL TO ALL MEMBERS FROM FOUR OFFICERS’ ORGANISATIONS ON WORK – LIFE BALANCE

ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS’ CONFEDERATION (AIBOC)
ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION (AIBOA)
INDIAN NATIONAL BANK OFFICERS’ CONGRESS (INBOC)
NATIONAL ORGANISATION OF BANK OFFICERS (NOBO)

Date: 29th September, 2018

To
All Affiliates (For Circulation)

To
All Affiliates of AIBOC/AIBOA/INBOC/NOBO

Dear Comrades,

Observe Work-Life-Balance, in letter and spirit

You are aware that the officers fraternity has been subjected to enormous stress due to ever increasing workload, inadequate staff, continuous pressure from multifarious controllers, over-ambitious targets, mis-placed business priorities, extended working hours et al. This has taken a heavy toll on the efficiency level and is the root cause of frustration and anxiety disorder resulting in depression, helplessness and life-style diseases viz Diabetes, High BP and Cardiac problems etc. Officers are constantly receiving SMS and instructions over WhatsApp messages even at odd hours. This has adversely affected their social and family life. Banking system has forgotten that an Officer is just not an employee of the Bank, but also a spouse/son/father/mother and an integral part of society. This situation has become intolerable as we find Officers are virtually chained to their official duties and have no respite, even while at home.

Work-Life-Balance is the need of the hour. Many top global companies are addressing this sensitive issue through various measures. State Bank of India has issued a comprehensive instruction addressing the need for a Work-life balance. However, the ground reality almost in every institution is that majority of the officers are stressed and do not have a work-life balance, which is attributed specially to the instructions received through SMS and WhatsApp.

All four officers organisations have unanimously decided to address this menace. It has been decided to call upon all our Officers not to attend/respond to the ‘official’ SMS/WhatsApp messages, received from their Controlling Authority/Zonal Heads between 8pm and 8am.

We urge upon our members to respond to our clarion call and implement the instructions in letter and spirit forthwith.

Yours comradely,

General Secretary – AIBOC
General Secretary – AIBOA
General Secretary – INBOC
General Secretary – NOBO

Source: http://aisbof.org

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Normal banking operations may be hit as employees unions of public sector banks have decided to join the two-day strike call given by central trade unions beginning February 20 to press for wage hike in the backdrop of rising inflation.

The nation-wide strike call has been given by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) consisting of nine national level unions including AIBEA, NCBE, BEFI, INBEF, NOBW and AIBOC in support of their demand.

Apprehending disruption in their normal banking operation, many banks have already informed their customers about the proposed strike.

“A section of the bank’s employees may participate in the proposed strike on the said date, if the strike materializes. In view of the above, it is likely that the normal functioning of the bank branches and offices may get affected,” Corporation Bank said in a statement.

Delhi State Bank Employees Federation said, clearing function of RBI will be affected and other banking operations.

Meanwhile, sources said, banks would be taking steps to ensure that public do not face problem at least on the cash front during the strike period.

Banks would be feeding additional cash in ATMs to take care of cash needs of their customers.

Bank unions are also opposing banking sector reforms and any plan for merger of banks.

The bank strike is part of general strike call given by all 11 central trade unions including Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC).

Source: DDI News

The post PSU bank staff to go on two-day strike from Feb 20 appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.