Legal Question in Workers Comp in India

Sir, I am working in shift duty in a central public sector utility in India. My shift duty goes like this---- Morning shift(2 days), Evening shift(2 days), Night shift(2 days from 10PM to 07AM) in continuum. Day after 2nd night shift is off. And next day is general shift. Till now there was no problem as no body was asked to come on general shift duty, because in reality this was the only off day; as after 2nd night shift all anyone can do is sleep whole day. But now our boss is forcing us to come on general shift duty, which means we won't get any off day. Kindly help us as this is affecting the life's of many people who already do hard work and work in hazardous conditions.


Asked on 3/19/14, 9:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Fca Prashant Chavan Expert Edge LLP

23.03.2014

Dear Sir / Madam,

Just to understand your query, let me suppose that you work :

Mondays & Tuesdays - Morning shift 07.00 am to 04.00 pm (incl. half hour lunch break)

Wednesdays & Thursdays - Evening shift 04.00 pm to 01.00 am (incl half hour snacks break)

Fridays & Saturdays - Night shift 10.00 pm to 07.00 am (incl half hour dinner break)

Sunday - Weekly off.

You have not mentioned the timings of the general shift, so I presume it is 08.00 am to 05.00 pm (incl. half hour lunch break) with effect from Monday i.e if your boss asks you to work the general shift in the following week, he / she implies that you will have to work from Monday thru Saturday from 08.00 am to 05.00 pm again having Sunday as your weekly off.

Summing up, you are being asked to work 54 hours per week against the legal permissible prevailing norm of maximum 48 hours per week in any organization - public or private in India.

You should submit a joint representation to the Management to either reduce the working hours per week to the legally permissible 48 hours per week, else pay you overtime at twice the basic wages for the extra 6 hours per week.

Regards,

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Answered on 3/23/14, 6:08 am


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