A milestone in employee welfare has been achieved in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry with Ceylinco Insurance partnering the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) – the industry’s apex body – to develop a standard life and medical insurance policy that can potentially protect some 350,000 workers and their families.
Costing less than Rs. 6 per employee per day, the Ceylinco ‘Ransalu Raksha’ policy provides life cover of Rs. 1 million, and will pay Rs. 1.5 million in the event of accidental death, Rs. 500,000 for partial and permanent disability, up to Rs. 500,000 as cover for 39 critical illnesses, reimburse up to Rs. 30,000 a year in medical expenses and contribute Rs. 30,000 as funeral expenses.
Developed after extensive discussions between Ceylinco Life Insurance, Ceylinco General Insurance, representatives of JAAF and Channel 17, which manages the ‘Ransalu Pranama Privilege’ loyalty cum welfare program of the apparel sector in Sri Lanka, the new policy is to be implemented as a group insurance scheme through voluntary participation of apparel companies.
Ceylinco Life Chairman R. Renganathan said, “This exclusive insurance package tailor-made for the needs of apparel sector employees, is the result of many hours of discussion and negotiation, and recognises the importance of shielding this vital human resource from the vagaries of life.”
JAAF Secretary General M. P. T. Cooray said Sri Lanka’s apparel industry has a well-evolved culture of protecting, nurturing and up-scaling its work force, helped by strong pro-labour laws and ‘rest of the world’ best practices mandated by the buyers’ community. The industry already has employee insurance in the form of contributory or company-funded schemes, but this new scheme takes the industry to an era of a standard insurance package, if workers and companies decide to take it.”