Ok, so I joined this company in 2012. During the interview and signing of papers, I was told that I was being hired on a contract and the only difference between me and any other employee is that I would not have a PF and medical insurance deduction. We only had a deduction of 10% TDS. We were paid a fixed "fee" every month.
After about 6-7 years of working in the company, after GST was introduced, we were asked to submit monthly invoices for tax audit purposes. Now, all the rules and regulations, all policies of the company were applicable to me. I was recruited by the head of the department, asked to report to her, and assigned tasks of equal nature with anyone else in the team. I was quite young back then and didn't realize that these wordings were simply abused and the recruits were tactfully made to sign them, with the clandestine goal of circumventing provisions of the labor laws.
My work in the organization is as per the monthly roster prepared by the HOD for both "on rolls" staff as well as the few "on contract" staff. Often by default in a year or two, the "on contract" staff simply get put on payrolls. I was even asked if I wanted to, but I said that I preferred to get that formality done a year or so later because the salary I drew back then was quite less. Deductions such as PF, Diwali Bonus, among others, would reduce my monthly take-home to significantly lower amounts.
To make it clear - I was in practice an employee with no rights to do a "come and go as I like" sort of job or do just the amount of work I chose to and demand pay only for that. Not doing a chore, just any chore or task asked of me would have led to disciplinary action against me. Therefore, in practice, the word "independent" was null and void.
Until recently, the company did not have well-framed policies and documents that defined various entitlements and duties of employees. Only recently, with a revamp in the human resources department, have these documents been uploaded on the intranet site.
As of now, the exit interview form says that only "on-roll" employees are entitled to gratuity benefits, and I would only be given the "fee" after deduction of the number of days I am unable to serve notice. Here we go. I am not even allowed to just exit at my own free will and will have to pay for the notice period not served.
About 3-4 years ago, they got all the "contract" employees to sign a letter saying they are voluntarily forfeiting their right to PF benefits.
Now, given that I have "signed" this tacitly worded letter, I see some of the forum commentators seem to be on the side of the employer, and it is causing me paranoia if the labor commissioner may have a divided opinion on this. My company is not any ordinary one; they have significant influence at top places. It makes me wonder whether this will go towards a court and lawyer fees and years of runaround.