Contractor
Handbook

Legal basis, sources and overriding effect

Every rule here traces to your Agreement and to a named law. We write the rule in plain words; the Agreement has the legal wording; the law decides what either can require.

Overriding effect

If this site and your signed Agreement differ, the Agreement prevails. If the Agreement and the law of India differ, the law prevails. If a restraint in the Agreement is held too wide, it applies to the widest extent the law allows (ISA clause 14(f)). We may update this site on 15 days' notice through the Contractor Portal; continuing to provide the services after that is acceptance (ISA clause 13(a)).

Your status: an independent consultant

You run your own business or profession and provide services to our client through us. That is a real difference from employment, with real consequences both ways.

What it means

• You decide how. Within the client's scope, quality standards and our security requirements, you decide how the work is done, using your own skill and judgement (ISA clause 1).
• No employee benefits. No salary, provident fund, ESI, gratuity, bonus, paid leave, notice pay or any employee benefit, and the Employee Handbook does not apply to you (ISA clause 2).
• Other clients. You may serve other clients outside your service window, with two exceptions: never a Restricted Person (section 26), and never using the client's or our information.
• Your own taxes. Income tax, social contributions, VAT or GST where it applies, registrations and filings in your country are yours (section 21).
• Personal performance. The engagement is with you personally. Nobody else may do the work or use your login (section 27).
• Warranties you give. You are at least 18, lawfully able to provide the services from your country, and not bound by any agreement this engagement would breach (ISA clause 2).

The documents you sign

Six documents make up the Engagement Documents. Every one carries a QR code and a verification number; anyone can check it at jobs.tasksexpert.com/verify.

Indian consultants sign electronically with Aadhaar OTP; consultants outside India sign through the e-signature service we use. Both are valid execution under section 10A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (ISA clause 14(h)).

KYC, identity and background verification

Before you start, we verify who you are, where you live, that your record supports client work, and that the bank account we pay is yours. What we collect depends on your country.

What everyone gives

• A government photo ID (passport, national ID or the document your annex names), a proof of address, a passport-size photo.
• Education certificates and proof of previous engagements or employment; two references.
• Bank account in your own name with proof (statement header, cancelled cheque or bank letter). We never pay a third party.
• Equipment details, an internet speed test and workspace photos (section 4).
• A police clearance certificate (the document your annex names) within 30 days of the start date.
• Consent to background verification of identity, address, education and previous engagements (ISA clause 14(a)).

What your country adds

Your country annex (Schedule D) lists the tax number, ID and police certificate for your country. Examples:

Equipment, internet and workspace

You provide everything you work with. The client sees a professional, and a professional has a working setup every day.

Minimum (Schedule A)

• Speed test and photos before the start date and whenever HR asks; results go in the Portal.
• No software that captures, records, forwards or automates the screen or keyboard; no remote-desktop tools; no virtual cameras (ISA clause 7(a), 4(c)).
• Nothing is reimbursed. Equipment, internet and power are costs of your business, reflected in the fee.

TaskGuard: the secure virtual desktop

All client work happens inside TaskGuard, the secure virtual desktop we give you. It protects the client's data, and it protects you: what happens inside it is logged, and what happens outside it is not our business.

Inside TaskGuard

• The client's tools, mail, files and systems are reached only inside the virtual desktop. Nothing is installed on your own system for client work.
• Access, sessions, file operations and screen activity inside the virtual desktop are logged (ISA clause 7(d)). These logs are how we show the client that its data stayed inside, and how we settle a dispute about what was done.
• Copy, download, print, screenshot and clipboard out of the virtual desktop are blocked or logged. Trying to get around a block is itself a breach.

What is not recorded

• Nothing on your own system outside the virtual desktop. No keylogging, no webcam between login and logout, no file scanning of your device.
• The only things taken from your device are the login and logout photos and the device location at those two moments (section 8).
• A forensic review of your device happens only in an investigation into data outside the virtual desktop, limited to client and our data, by a professional we appoint (section 29).

Your first two weeks

The first two weeks decide how the client sees you for the rest of the engagement. This is what happens, in order, and what you must have ready.

Service window and scheduled service days

Your service window is the days and hours in Schedule A, in the client's time zone. A scheduled service day is delivered when you are logged in to TaskGuard for the whole window and the client's work is done.

• Normally 5 days a week with 2 consecutive non-service days fixed in Schedule A. Your service days and off days for the month are published in the Portal (Schedule).
• Changes to the window or the days are agreed with HR in writing, never with the client directly. A client public holiday is a non-service day within the retainer unless Schedule A says otherwise.
• Whole window. Logged in at the start, logged out at the end, available throughout. Late login or early logout of more than 30 minutes, or less than 8 hours of service in a 9-hour window, is a short session (section 18).
• Breaks are as agreed with your Team Lead inside the window; they are not logged out and logged in again.
• Overtime does not exist for a consultant. Work outside the window happens only when HR agrees it in writing with a fee for it.

Login, logout and professional presence

At login and logout the Portal takes a photo of you and a photo of your workspace, and records your location at that moment. Both photos are checked by HR every day. This is how the client knows a professional, personally, is at a proper desk.

Before you log in

The Portal shows the rule and asks you to confirm you have read it. Set yourself up before you press Next.

You, in the photo

Sit on a chair at a desk or table, with your back straight, facing the camera. The camera at eye level, your face and both shoulders in the frame, light on your face, not behind you. Dress as you would for a video call with your client: a collared shirt, kurta or top that is neat and not creased; no vest, nightwear, towel or hood. Hair combed, face washed, awake and ready to work. No bed, pillow or blanket in the picture. Nothing in the mouth, no food, no phone in the hand.

Your workspace, in the photo

Step back or turn the camera so the desk, the chair and the screen are all in the picture. The laptop or monitor on the desk, the keyboard in front of it, the headset within reach, the chair pulled in. The desk clear of plates, cups and clothes. Not on a bed, a sofa, the floor or your lap. Not walking, not in a kitchen, a bathroom, a balcony, a vehicle or outdoors. The wall or background behind you plain and tidy, as it would look to a client on a call.

If a photo does not meet this

• HR marks it with the reason (not client-facing clothing; not fresh, looks just out of bed; working from a bed, sofa or floor; laptop on the lap, moving around; workspace not professional; face or desk not visible; other) and a note. You see the mark on your Service log the same day and may reply in the Portal within 3 days.
• Each marked login or logout carries a service credit under Schedule B and the Quality component for that month is not earned (section 17).
• Three marks in a calendar quarter are cause for termination (ISA clause 9(h)). Each quarter starts the count again.

Non-service days, 48-hour notice and emergencies

You are not an employee and you have no leave. You have service days you deliver and non-service days you declare. The difference between a declared day and a missed day is 48 hours.

• Declare in the Portal (Availability), never on WhatsApp or by a message to the client. The Portal timestamp is the proof.
• Power or internet failure is not an emergency; a backup connection is part of your setup (section 4).
• Long absence (more than 5 declared days in a row) needs HR's written agreement; otherwise the engagement may end and the client be re-staffed.

Talking to the client: channels and limits

You speak to the client every day inside the tools the client and we approve. Everything about the commercial relationship, your fee, your availability and your future stays with us.

• Approved channels only: the client's tools inside TaskGuard, the Tasks Expert mailbox or alias you are given, and calls on the approved platform. Never your personal phone, e-mail, WhatsApp or social media.
• Never share your personal contact details, address, fee, other clients, or anything about Embrize's arrangements with the client. If asked, say: "Tasks Expert handles that; I will have them reach out."
• Commercial questions (more hours, another person, a new scope, a price, a complaint about us) go to your Team Lead the same day, in writing. You do not negotiate anything.
• Escalation: a problem with the client that you cannot settle in the day goes to your Team Lead; a problem with your Team Lead goes to HR at hr.embrize@tasksexpert.com.
• An approach for direct work from the client, its staff or its contacts: tell HR within 24 hours (ISA clause 10(d)). Not telling us is itself a breach.

Your Team Lead and the escalation path

Every consultant has a Team Lead who knows the client and the work. Knowing who handles what saves you days.

If an answer does not come within the time above, write again to the same person with "Second request" in the subject and copy HR. Never go to the client to solve a problem with us.

Quality, complaints and rework

Quality is judged by the client and recorded by us. Every complaint is shared with you in writing before anything is deducted, and you have the right to reply.

• A documented instance is a written client complaint, or rework we had to perform or arrange because of defective services.
• It is shared with you in the Portal (Service log, Complaints) with the client's words or the rework note. You may reply within 3 days; your reply is kept with it.
• Service credit of INR 2,000 per instance, after it is shared (section 18). The Quality component for the month is not earned (section 17).
• Three instances in a calendar month are cause for termination (ISA clause 9(c)).
• Your Team Lead reviews your work weekly and tells you what to fix before it becomes a complaint. Use that.

Performance reviews and fee reviews

Your work is reviewed every quarter. The review is how your retainer and your level move, and the only way they move.

• Quarterly review. In the first two weeks of January, April, July and October your Team Lead reviews the quarter with you: client feedback, complaints, presence marks, missed days, the quality of your work, and one thing to improve. It is written down in the Portal and you may add your comments.
• Levels. Junior, Senior, Lead, Expert and Specialist, as the Tasks Expert levels are published. Your level is in your profile; the client sees it on your alias profile.
• Fee review. Once a year, or when you move up a level, HR may offer a new retainer by a written change to Schedule A. There is no automatic increase and no negotiation by the client on your behalf.
• What earns a higher retainer: a full year with no missed days and no presence marks, no documented complaints in the last two quarters, written praise from the client, taking on more of the client's work, and a level assessment passed.
• What holds it back: any termination-count event in the year (3 missed days, 3 complaints in a month, 3 marks in a quarter), a breach found in an investigation, or a client asking for a replacement.

Conduct: courtesy, honesty, no gifts, no statements

You carry the Tasks Expert name in front of the client every day. The standard is the one you would expect from a senior professional in the client's own office.

• Courteous and professional with the client, its customers and the Tasks Expert team, in writing and on calls. No harassment, discrimination, abuse, threats or dishonesty of any kind, to anyone.
• No representation. You do not sign anything for the client or for us, do not commit either to anything, and do not speak for them outside the scope of the services (ISA clause 13(b)).
• No gifts, commissions or payments from the client or anyone connected with it, in any form. Declare an offer to HR the same day (ISA clause 9(j)).
• Silence in public. No post, review, comment, portfolio entry or disclosure, anywhere, that identifies the client, Embrize, Tasks Expert, or the work. Not on LinkedIn, not on a freelancing profile, not in a group chat. One monthly retainer per instance and removal within 24 hours (Schedule E).
• Honesty with us. Accurate service log, accurate declarations, accurate answers in any investigation. Your CV and KYC are warranted true (ISA clause 13(c)).
• Tell us within 7 days of any change to your details, any charge or conviction, or any new engagement that could conflict with this one.

AI tools, software and personal devices

AI tools and good software make you faster. Used outside the secure environment with the client's information, they are a data breach. The line is simple.

Your fee: fixed in Indian Rupees

Your monthly retainer is fixed in Indian Rupees, the base currency of Embrize, wherever you live. Where a document shows an amount in your own currency, it is a reference at the rate on the date of the document. The amount payable is always the INR amount.

• Why INR. One currency for every consultant means one rule for every fee, credit and charge, and no argument about exchange rates in the Agreement. Your Agreement, invoice and statements are in INR.
• The reference amount. Your Engagement Letter and Schedule A show, for reference only, roughly what the INR retainer was in your currency on the day the document was made, at the rate HR set. It is there to help you read the number, not a promise of what reaches your account.
• What reaches your account depends on the exchange rate on the day of transfer and the charges on the way (section 20). If the rupee moves, the amount you receive moves with it, up or down.
• Changes to the retainer happen only by a written change to Schedule A from HR. A client's decision to pay more or less for the engagement does not change your retainer on its own.

The Attendance and Quality components

Outside India the retainer has three parts on the invoice: a base fee and two components that you earn each month by delivering every day and by a clean month. In India the retainer is a single amount and the same conduct is handled by service credits.

• Not earned is not invoiced. A component not earned is simply absent from the invoice; it is not a deduction and not a fine.
• The percentages are in your Schedule A. HR can set different ones for an engagement; the defaults are 7 and 7.
• India: the retainer is one amount; missed days, complaints and presence marks carry the service credits in section 18 instead.
• Daily fee reductions for days not delivered apply to the whole retainer, components included.

Service credits and Schedule B

A service credit is a fixed amount deducted from the fee for a missed day, a documented complaint or a presence mark. The amounts are a genuine pre-estimate of what a gap or a defect costs us with the client (Contract Act s.74), capped each month.

Service credits are capped at INR 6,000 in a month. Fee reductions for days not delivered and components not earned are not capped: they are fees for services not provided, not credits. Counts reset each calendar month; presence marks count per calendar quarter. The Portal shows each day's status and the running fee.

Invoice: prepared on the 1st, approved by you

You never write an invoice. On the 1st of each month the Portal prepares it from your service log; you check and approve it; it becomes your invoice to Embrize.

1. 1st of the month: the invoice for the month before appears in the Portal (Invoices), with every day's status, the components, the credits and the payable amount in INR, and the reference amount in your currency.
2. Within 3 days: approve it, or dispute a day in the Portal with your reason. We decide a dispute on the service log and the client's record and tell you in writing. An invoice neither approved nor disputed in 3 days is deemed approved (ISA clause 5).
3. Within 7 working days of approval: payment (section 20). The Portal shows the reference once it is sent.
4. Statements: a payment statement each month and a yearly summary for your own filing. Indian consultants also receive Form 16A each quarter.

How we pay you, and whose charges they are

We pay the INR amount from India to a bank account in your own name, by the method agreed for your country. Every charge on the way is yours. Embrize pays the INR fee and nothing beyond it.

Charges

• All of them are yours: our bank's transfer charge, correspondent bank charges, the payout service's fee, currency conversion, and your bank's receiving charge. They are deducted from the fee or taken on the way; what lands is the INR amount less those charges, converted at the rate on the day (ISA clause 5, Schedule A).
• A bounced transfer (wrong account name, number, IBAN or SWIFT; account not in your name; account closed) comes back with a charge, and the charge is deducted again on the resend. Check your bank details in the Portal before the 1st.
• Account in your own name only. No family member, friend, agent or company other than your own registered business. A request to pay anyone else is refused and recorded.
• Changing bank details is done in the Portal with a new bank proof; HR confirms it with you by a call before the next payment. We never change bank details on an e-mail or a chat message.

Taxes: India, your country and the treaty

Taxes follow the law of two countries: India, where the fee is paid from, and your country, where you earn it. The treaty between them decides which one taxes the fee. Yours are yours.

Fee calculator

See what a month pays, in INR and in your currency for reference, with every rule applied.

Pick your country and retainer, then enter what happened in the month. The calculator applies Schedule A and Schedule B exactly as the Portal does. It is an illustration; the Portal's invoice is the record.

Three worked months, line by line

Numbers make the rules clear. Three months for a consultant with a retainer of INR 30,000 and the default 7% + 7% components.

Month 1: a clean month (Philippines)

For reference at INR 1.48 per PHP: about PHP 20,270, before the transfer and receiving charges, which are yours.

Month 2: two days declared on time, one complaint

With only one day declared on time the Attendance component would have stayed: one declared day a month is allowed.

Month 3: India, one missed day without notice and one presence mark

Confidentiality and client data

Everything you see in the client's business, and everything about our clients, fees and methods, is confidential during and after the engagement. The Undertaking you signed is personal to you and has no end date.

Never, in any form

• Copy, download, print, photograph, screen-record, transcribe or dictate client or Embrize information outside TaskGuard.
• Type or paste it into personal e-mail, messaging apps, cloud drives, note apps, browser extensions or any AI tool outside TaskGuard.
• Keep any copy after the engagement, on any device, account or backup.
• Share your login, OTP or session, or let anyone see your screen during a session.
• Use the client's customers' personal data for anything but the client's instructions.
• Disclose the client's identity, the existence of the engagement or its terms to anyone, including family, friends, recruiters, forums or social media.

Always

• Report a suspected breach of personal data, or a lost, shared or compromised device or credential, within 2 hours (Undertaking clauses 3 and 6).
• Return everything and certify deletion in writing within 2 days of the end (Undertaking clause 8).
• Remember that work product belongs to the client (or us) from the moment you create it (ISA clause 8(b)).

Security incidents: what to do, and how fast

Things go wrong: a laptop is stolen, an e-mail goes to the wrong person, a password leaks. What decides the outcome is how fast you tell us. Reporting promptly is never a breach; hiding it always is.

Non-circumvention and non-solicitation

The client relationship is ours; it is the price of your fee. You serve the client through us and nobody else, during the engagement and for 24 months after it, whatever the reason it ended.

Restricted Person

The client; any affiliate, officer, employee or contractor of the client; any customer, vendor or contact of the client that you served, dealt with or learned of through the services; and any other client of Embrize or Tasks Expert that you learned of through the engagement (ISA clause 10(a)).

What you will not do, directly or indirectly, alone or through anyone

• Provide services to a Restricted Person, in any capacity, on any platform, through any company or person.
• Solicit, propose, accept, negotiate or introduce any engagement, employment, referral or business with a Restricted Person.
• Help anyone else do any of the above, or introduce anyone to a Restricted Person.
• Solicit, recruit or engage any employee, consultant or candidate of Embrize or Tasks Expert.
• Induce a Restricted Person to reduce, end or move its business with Embrize or Tasks Expert.

What you will do

• Tell HR in writing within 24 hours of any approach by a Restricted Person for direct work (ISA clause 10(d)). The approach is not your fault; silence about it is.

Personal performance, no impersonation, no faking of presence

The engagement is with you, personally. The client is paying for you. Anyone else at your keyboard, or any tool that pretends you are somewhere or doing something you are not, is fraud on the client and on us.

• No one else, ever: no subcontracting, no "helper", no family member covering a shift, no shared login, no second person on the session (ISA clause 1; Undertaking clause 3).
• No VPN, proxy, remote-desktop tool, virtual camera, location spoofer or automation tool to misrepresent your location, identity, presence or activity (ISA clause 4(c)).
• Your photos are yours: live, at login and logout, from the camera on the device you work on.

Conflicts of interest, gifts and anti-bribery

You may have other clients. You may not have a conflict that puts this client or us at risk, and you may never take or offer anything of value to win or keep work.

• Declare to HR within 7 days any engagement with a competitor of the client, any relationship with the client's staff, or any interest in a vendor the client uses.
• No gifts from the client, its staff, customers or vendors: no money, vouchers, devices, trips or favours, of any value. A token item (a branded mug at a team event) is declared to HR the same day.
• No bribery, in any direction and any country: never offer, give, ask for or accept anything to influence a decision. It ends the engagement and is reported.
• No side deals with the client's vendors or customers you meet through the work.

Investigation, audit and your cooperation

If we reasonably suspect a breach of the personal-performance, security, confidentiality or non-circumvention rules, we investigate before we decide. You cooperate; we put our findings to you in writing.

1. Suspension. We may suspend your access and hold the fee concerned for up to 15 days (ISA clause 11, clause 5).
2. Questions. You answer truthfully, in writing or on a recorded call, within the time we set (normally 48 hours).
3. Logs. We review the TaskGuard logs, sessions, photos and location records, and the client's record.
4. Device review. Only where the suspected breach involves data outside TaskGuard: a forensic review of the device you used, by a professional we appoint, limited to client and Embrize data. Your personal files are not the subject.
5. Findings. In writing, with the evidence, and what follows: no action, a credit, a mark, termination, a demand under Schedule E, or a report to the authorities.

Liquidated damages: Schedule E

For the breaches that hurt most and are hardest to price, your Agreement fixes a minimum amount in advance, as the Indian Contract Act allows (s.74). It is payable on written demand, may be set off against your fee, and does not cap a bigger proven loss or an injunction.

"Monthly retainer" means the retainer in your Schedule A. Amounts are in INR. Each is a genuine pre-estimate of the minimum loss the breach causes; you agreed them when you signed.

Where a breach is also an offence

Some breaches are not only contract breaches. Where the law makes them offences, we and the client may file a complaint, in India and in your country, in addition to the civil remedies.

Minimum term, notice and handover

An engagement has a minimum term, a notice period after it, and a handover at the end. Leaving properly costs nothing; leaving badly costs the transition charge.

The transition charge: Schedule C

If you end or stop before the minimum term, without the full notice, or without the handover, you pay the transition charge: a genuine pre-estimate of what replacing you on the client engagement costs us.

Termination for cause

We may end the engagement immediately, by written notice, for the causes in clause 9. Fees for services delivered up to that day remain payable, less credits, liquidated damages and anything you owe.

1. Breach of personal performance (anyone else on your login), the security clause, the confidentiality clause or the Undertaking.
2. 3 scheduled service days missed in a calendar month without declared non-service days.
3. 3 documented client complaints in a calendar month.
4. Dealing with a Restricted Person other than through us, or soliciting.
5. Failing background verification; false or incomplete KYC or CV; a conflicting engagement.
6. Being charged with or convicted of an offence involving dishonesty, violence or data misuse.
7. Stopping the services, or giving notice, in breach of the term and notice rules.
8. 3 professional-presence marks in a calendar quarter.
9. Using any VPN, proxy, remote-desktop, virtual-camera, location-spoofing or automation tool to misrepresent presence.
10. Accepting a gift, commission or payment from the client or anyone connected with it; representing us or the client outside the scope.

Refusing to cooperate with an investigation is a further cause (clause 11). On termination for cause the transition charge applies where the services were not handed over, and the liquidated damages in Schedule E where they are triggered.

Return, deletion and the last invoice

On the last day, everything goes back and everything is deleted, and you say so in writing. Then the last invoice is settled.

1. Complete the handover checklist in the Portal and the written handover (section 32).
2. Return or confirm deletion of every client and Embrize account, credential, token and file; log out of every system. Access is revoked at the end of the last session.
3. Permanently delete any confidential information from every device, account and backup, and certify it in the Portal within 2 days (Undertaking clause 8).
4. The last invoice is prepared on the 1st as usual, with any set-off shown line by line, and paid within 7 working days of approval once the checklist and the certificate are in.

After the engagement: becoming an employee (India)

Some consultants in India join Embrize as employees after an engagement ends. It is a fresh start as a new hire, not a continuation.

• It happens only after the engagement has ended properly and only in India, where Embrize employs.
• You are treated fully as a new employee: every new-employee document, the Master Joining Document, training and the probation period apply afresh; the level is set by HR; the joining date is the one HR fixes.
• Your consultant history (invoices, documents) stays visible in your HRMS record under "Earlier, as an independent consultant".
• Nothing in this section is a promise of employment; it describes what happens when both sides choose it.

Country guide: what each country needs

The engagement is the same everywhere. What changes by country is the identity and tax paperwork, the police certificate, the bank details, the privacy law and the local status of an independent professional. Your own country annex (Schedule D) is the legal version of this page.

Country notes

Your personal data and privacy

We collect what the engagement, the payment and the law require, use it for those purposes only, show it to the people who need it, keep it for the period the law requires, and then delete it.

Your rights

• Ask HR what we hold about you and get a copy; ask for a correction; ask for deletion after the engagement, subject to the retention the law or a pending dispute requires.
• Consent to the photos, the location at login and logout and the TaskGuard logging is part of your Agreement; withdrawing it means you cannot provide the services, because the client requires them.
• The law that applies: the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (India) and the privacy law your country annex names (GDPR in Europe, the Data Privacy Act in the Philippines, LFPDPPP in Mexico, and so on).
• Nothing about you goes to a client beyond your alias profile and the work itself. Your real name, contact details and fee are never shared with a client.

Health, safety and insurance

You work from your own space, so its safety is yours. A few habits keep you well over a long engagement.

• Posture: a chair with back support, feet flat, the top of the screen at eye level, the keyboard at elbow height. The same setup that makes the presence photo right also protects your back.
• Eyes and breaks: every 20 minutes look at something 6 metres away for 20 seconds; stand up and move for a few minutes every hour within the breaks your Team Lead agreed.
• Night windows: if your service window is at night in your time zone, keep a fixed sleep time, a dark room for the day, and tell your Team Lead early if it is not working.
• Insurance: you arrange your own health, accident and, if you want it, professional indemnity cover. We do not provide insurance to consultants and are not liable for an accident in your workspace.
• Wellbeing: if the work is affecting your health, tell your Team Lead or HR. We would rather adjust a schedule than lose a good consultant.

Raising concerns, and how a dispute is settled

Most things are settled in the Portal or with HR in a day. For the rest there is a process, and it ends in arbitration in Mumbai.

1. Your Team Lead for anything about the work.
2. HR at hr.embrize@tasksexpert.com, quoting your vendor code, for anything about the engagement: a mark, a credit, a complaint, a payment, a document. HR answers in writing within 5 working days.
3. A written dispute to HR starts the 30-day good-faith discussion in your Agreement.
4. Arbitration by a sole arbitrator under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, seated in Mumbai, in English; the award is final and binding on both sides.
5. Courts at Thane, Maharashtra for an injunction or interim relief, and otherwise exclusively. An award or order can be enforced in your country, including under the New York Convention (ISA clause 14(g)).

Changes to this Handbook

This site is version-controlled. Every change is notified in the Portal 15 days before it applies, and the version you signed is kept on your record.

• Version 1.0, November 2026: first edition.
• A change is notified in the Portal and by e-mail 15 days before it applies; continuing to provide the services after that is acceptance (ISA clause 13(a)). A change that worsens your fee, credits or term is made only by a written change to your Schedule A, which you sign.
• The version in force at your signing is printed on your Contractor Handbook acknowledgement; every later version is listed here with its date.

Glossary

The words this Handbook and your Agreement use, in one place.

Frequently asked questions

Plain answers with the section they come from. Where an answer here and your Agreement differ, the Agreement wins.

Fees and payment

• Why is my fee in Indian Rupees when I live in the Philippines?
  Embrize is an Indian company and INR is its base currency; one currency means one rule for every fee, credit and charge. Your documents show a reference amount in PHP so you can read the number; what you receive is the INR amount converted on the day of transfer, less the charges on the way. Section 16 and 20.
• Who pays the transfer charges?
  You do, all of them: our bank's charge, correspondent banks, the payout service, conversion and your bank's receiving charge. We pay the INR amount and nothing beyond it. That is in clause 5 and Schedule A of your Agreement.
• My transfer bounced. What now?
  Almost always a wrong name, number, IBAN or SWIFT, or an account not in your name. Fix the details in the Portal with a new bank proof; HR confirms by a call; we resend. The bounce charge is deducted again.
• When exactly am I paid?
  The invoice appears on the 1st; approve it within 3 days; payment within 7 working days of approval. International transfers then take 2 to 5 working days to land.
• What is the daily fee?
  The monthly retainer divided by 30, for every day you are not scheduled or do not deliver. Section 16.
• How do the Attendance and Quality components work?
  Outside India the retainer is 86% base + 7% Attendance + 7% Quality by default. Attendance is earned with no missed day, no short session and at most 1 day declared on time (an emergency with proof does not count); Quality by a month with no complaint and no presence mark. A component not earned is not invoiced. In India the retainer is one amount and service credits apply instead. Section 17.
• Is a service credit a fine?
  No. It is an agreed, pre-estimated amount for what a missed day, a complaint or a presence mark costs us with the client (Contract Act s.74), capped at INR 6,000 a month. Section 18.
• Do you deduct tax?
  India: yes, TDS under section 194J, with Form 16A. Outside India: no, where the tax treaty treats services performed outside India as taxable only in your country; all your country's taxes are yours. Section 21.
• Can I be paid in USD instead?
  The fee is fixed in INR. Depending on your bank and the method for your country, it may arrive in USD or in your local currency; the conversion is at the rate on the day and its charges are yours.
• Can you pay my spouse's or my company's account?
  Only an account in your own name, or your own registered business. Never a family member, friend or agent. Section 20.
• Do I get anything extra for a public holiday in my country?
  No. Your country's holidays are non-service days within the retainer only if the client's calendar allows it; otherwise declare them like any non-service day.

Days and availability

• How do I take a day off?
  Declare a non-service day in the Portal at least 48 hours before. The daily fee is not payable and there is no credit. Fewer than 48 hours, or no declaration, is a missed day: INR 2,000 credit, and three in a month end the engagement. Section 9.
• What counts as an emergency?
  Hospitalisation of you or an immediate family member, or a bereavement, with proof uploaded within 48 hours. No credit and it does not count towards the three. Power or internet failure is not an emergency.
• I was 40 minutes late because of a power cut.
  A short session: half the daily fee is not payable, no credit. Three short sessions in a month count as one missed day. A backup connection and power are part of your setup. Section 7 and 18.
• Can I work on a client public holiday to earn more?
  No. A client holiday is a non-service day within the retainer (full daily fee, nothing to do) unless your Schedule A says otherwise. Work outside the window happens only when HR agrees it in writing with a fee.
• My child is sick and I cannot work tomorrow.
  Declare a non-service day in the Portal now; if it is less than 48 hours away it counts as a missed day with the credit. Hospitalisation of an immediate family member with proof within 48 hours is an emergency: no credit, does not count. Section 9.
• Can I change my service window?
  Only with HR in writing, never with the client directly; the client must agree it through us. Section 7.

Photos and presence

• Why a photo of my workspace?
  The client is paying for a professional at a desk. The workspace photo shows that, the same way the person photo shows it is you. Both are checked by HR every day. Section 8.
• What exactly gets a mark?
  Not client-facing clothing; looking just out of bed; working from a bed, sofa or floor; laptop on the lap or moving around; a cluttered, kitchen, vehicle or outdoor workspace; face or desk not visible. The full description of what we expect is in section 8.
• What does a mark cost?
  A service credit under Schedule B, and the Quality component for that month is not earned. Three marks in a calendar quarter are cause for termination. You see the mark the same day and can reply within 3 days.
• Is my camera on during the day?
  No. Only the two photos at login and logout, from the device you work on, plus the device location at those two moments. Inside TaskGuard, sessions and screen activity are logged; outside it, nothing. Section 5 and 38.
• Can my cousin cover my shift if I am ill?
  Never. The engagement is with you personally. Anyone else on your login is 2 monthly retainers per instance and immediate termination, and we report it to the client. Declare a non-service day instead. Section 27.
• I work from a café some days. Is that fine?
  No. A public place is never allowed for client work: the screen can be seen and the network is not yours. Section 24 and the Undertaking.
• My laptop camera is broken.
  Tell IT and your Team Lead before the window starts. Without the photos the day cannot be logged; fix or replace the camera the same day. Section 4.

The client and the rules

• The client asked me to work for them directly for more money.
  Tell HR in writing within 24 hours; the approach is not your fault. Accepting, proposing or even discussing it is a breach: 6 monthly retainers or 12 months of the client's billing, whichever is higher, plus an injunction. Section 26.
• Can I mention the client on my LinkedIn or freelancing profile?
  No. Nothing, anywhere, that identifies the client, Embrize, Tasks Expert or the work: 1 monthly retainer per instance and removal within 24 hours. Section 14.
• Can I use ChatGPT to draft the client's e-mails?
  Only a tool inside TaskGuard that the client has approved. Pasting client text into any outside tool is a confidentiality breach. Section 24.
• What if I find a security problem?
  Tell HR or your Team Lead at once; within 2 hours if it involves personal data or a credential. Reporting is never held against you. Section 5.
• Can I serve other clients at the same time?
  Yes, outside your service window, never a Restricted Person, and never using the client's or our information. Tell HR of any engagement that could conflict. Section 1.
• Can I put "Virtual Assistant for a US company" on my CV?
  Yes, in general words, without the client's name, industry details that identify it, or Tasks Expert's client list. Never the client's name.
• A friend wants to join. Can I refer them?
  Yes, through jobs.tasksexpert.com. Never bring anyone into your session to "learn" or help.

Ending

• How do I leave?
  After the minimum term, written notice as in your Schedule A (normally 45 days), serve every scheduled day of it, do the handover in the last 5 working days, return and delete everything, certify it. Then nothing is owed either way. Section 32.
• What if I just stop?
  The transition charge: re-staffing INR 10,000, the notice not served at the daily fee, the client loss capped at one retainer, and one more retainer for abandonment; capped at 3 retainers; set off against your last invoice and the balance demanded in writing. Section 33.
• The client ended the engagement. Do I get anything?
  Fees to the last scheduled day. No notice pay, because you are not an employee, and no transition charge, because you did nothing wrong. We may offer another engagement, without obligation.
• Can I become an employee later?
  In India, after an engagement ends properly, as a fresh new hire with every new-employee document and probation. Section 36.
• What happens to my photos after I leave?
  They are kept only as long as HR needs them and then deleted by HR; a marked day's photos are kept for the dispute period. Section 38.

Receipt and acknowledgement

You acknowledge this Handbook electronically as part of your engagement pack. The version you signed is printed on the acknowledgement and kept on your record.

By signing the Contractor Handbook acknowledgement in your pack you confirm that you have read this Handbook in full, including your country annex, that you understand it, and that you accept it as part of your Independent Services Agreement. If any part is unclear, ask HR before you sign; questions are welcome, assumptions are not.