Do Contract Staff Need Appointment Letters?

The rule, stated plainly

Yes, contract staff need a written letter of appointment. Since the labour codes came into force on 21 November 2025, issuing a letter of appointment to every worker is a duty of the employer under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. There is no carve-out that lets a staffing or manpower firm skip the letter for the workers it deploys. The letter must be in writing and carry the worker's terms, in the form prescribed by the notified rules.

Who issues it: the contractor, not the client

For deployed staff, the employer who must issue the letter is the contractor, that is, your staffing firm. Under the Code on Social Security, 2020, contract labour is defined as a worker hired in or in connection with the work of an establishment by or through a contractor. In law the worker is the contractor's worker, so the appointment letter comes from you as the agency, not from the client where the worker is placed. The principal employer's contract-labour duties are different: providing welfare facilities on site, and stepping in to pay wages if the contractor defaults, recoverable from the contractor (OSH Code 2020, Chapter XI, Sections 53 and 55).

The exception that usually applies, and what it does not do

The exception owners reach for is that casual or intermittent engagements, or the fact that staff sit at a client site, remove the obligation. They do not. The intermittent or casual nature of work under Section 45(2) only affects whether the contract-labour Part of Chapter XI, including licensing, applies to the establishment; it does not switch off the general duty to give a worker their terms in writing. Likewise the 50-worker figure often quoted is the licensing threshold for the contract-labour Part, not a floor for the appointment letter. There is one genuine boundary, though: a worker who is regularly employed by the agency on mutually accepted standards of employment, including permanent engagement, periodical increments and social security coverage, is not treated as contract labour at all under the Code on Social Security, 2020 definition. Such a worker is your regular employee and gets a standard employee appointment letter.

What to put in the letter (action step)

Issue a written letter of appointment to every worker, your own office staff and your deployed staff alike, and keep a signed copy on record. Make it reflect the real terms: the wage components as defined in the Code on Wages, 2019; the wage period, which cannot exceed one month (Section 16); the payment timeline for that wage period (Section 17); and the worker's social security identifiers and coverage (EPF Universal Account Number and the monthly ECR, and ESI where the wage ceiling applies). Name the correct employer, which is your firm, and the place of deployment. The exact form and particulars are set by the notified Central and State rules, so confirm the template against your state's notified rule before you standardise it.

Related obligations to line up

The appointment letter sits alongside the rest of your contract-labour compliance: a contractor licence where the Chapter XI Part applies, with a separate licence for each principal employer and a licence valid for five years for the number of workers specified (OSH Code 2020, Sections 47 and 48); and an experience certificate to be issued on demand when a worker leaves (Section 56). Confirm the exact licensing threshold, the form numbers and any state additions, such as Professional Tax, Shops and Establishment registration and PSARA for a security agency, against your state's notified rules.

Sources, last verified and disclaimer

Last verified: 20 September 2026. This is general information for staffing and manpower firm owners in India, not legal advice, and is pending named legal review. Forms, thresholds and particulars vary by state and by the notified Central and State rules under the labour codes; confirm against your state's notified rule and the enacted Code text before acting. Reviewer byline: pending named legal review.

Key points

• Yes: contract staff need a written letter of appointment. The labour codes make issuing a letter of appointment to every worker a duty of the employer under the OSH Code 2020, in force since 21 November 2025.
• The employer who issues it is the contractor, that is, the staffing firm. Contract labour is defined as a worker hired by or through a contractor (Code on Social Security 2020, Section 2(18)), so the letter comes from the agency, not the client.
• The duty has no headcount floor. It applies even below the 50-worker mark that triggers contract-labour licensing; treat the licensing threshold separately and verify it against your state's notified rule.
• Casual or intermittent work does not remove the letter duty. Section 45(2) only affects whether the Chapter XI licensing Part applies to the establishment.
• A worker regularly employed by the agency on mutually accepted standards, with permanent engagement, increments and social security, is not contract labour at all and gets a standard employee appointment letter.
• The letter should state real terms: wage components (Code on Wages), wage period not exceeding one month (Section 16), payment timeline (Section 17), and EPF (UAN and ECR) and ESI coverage where applicable.
• Exact form and particulars are set by the notified Central and State rules; confirm your template against your state's rule before standardising it.

Related questions

Check for your state

• The precise clause of the OSH Code 2020 that mandates the letter of appointment, and the prescribed form and particulars, are set by the enacted Code and the notified Central and State rules; confirm the clause number and the form before publishing a template.
• The contract-labour licensing threshold (principal-employer registration and contractor licence) is set by the Code and rules and varies by state; verify the current number against your state's notified rule rather than assuming a single figure.
• Legacy form numbers carried into the rules (for example the principal-employer registration and contractor-licence forms) must be confirmed against your state's notified rules before being cited in a template.
• Current EPF and ESI rates and the ESI wage ceiling should be verified before they are stated in any letter or costing.
• Pending named legal review.