WORKING HOURS OF ADULTS :
It contains provision for regulating working hours for the adult workers and the same are explained below:
(i) Weekly hours
An adult worker shall be allowed to work only for forty eight hours in any week. (Section 51)
(ii) Weekly holidays
Section 52 provides that there shall be holiday for the whole day in every week and such weekly holiday shall be on the first day of the week. However, such holiday may be substituted for any one of the three days immediately before or after the first day of the week provided the manger of the factory has:
(i) delivered a notice at the office of the Inspector; and
(ii) displayed a notice in the factory to this effect.
The effect of all this is that subject to above said conditions (i) and (ii) there shall be a holiday during ten days. In other words no adult worker shall work for more than ten days consecutively without a holiday for the whole day. It is not possible for an employer to change the weekly off solely on the ground that there was no material available for work to be provided on a particular date, avoiding requirements to be fulfilled under Section 25(m) of Industrial Disputes Act regarding lay off (LAB IC 1998 Bom. 1790).
Such notices of substitution may be cancelled by an appropriate notice but not later than the day of weekly holiday or the substituted holiday whichever is earlier.
(iii) Compensatory holidays
When a worker is deprived of any of the weekly holiday as result of passing of an order or making of a rule exempting a factory or worker from the provisions of Section 52, he is entitled to compensatory holidays of equal number of the holidays so lost. These holidays should be allowed either in the same month in which the holidays became due or within next two months immediately following that month. (Section 53)
(iv) Daily hours
According to Section 54, an adult worker, whether male or female shall not be required or allowed to work in a factory for more than 9 hours in any day. Section 54 should be read with Section 59. In other words, the daily hours of work should be so adjusted that the total weekly hours does not exceed 48. The liability of the employer under this Section cannot be absolved on the ground that the workers are willing to work for longer hours without any extra payment.
The daily maximum hours of work specified in Section 54 can be exceeded provided
(i) it is to facilitate the change of shift; and
(ii) the previous approval of the Chief Inspector has been obtained.
(v) Intervals for rest
No adult worker shall work continuously for more than 5 hours unless a rest interval of at least half an hour is given to him. [Section 55(1)]
The State Government or subject to the control of the State Government the Chief Inspector may, by written order for the reasons specified therein, exempt any factory, from the compliance of above provisions to the extent that the total number of hours worked without rest interval does not exceed six. [Section 55(2)]
(vi) Spreadover
Section 56 provides that the daily working hours should be adjusted in such a manner, that inclusive of rest interval under Section 55, they are not spreadover more than 10-1/2 hours on any day. Thus, we see this Section restricts the practice of forcing the stay of workers in the factory for unduly long periods without contravening the provision of Section 54 relating to daily hours of work.
Proviso to Section 56 provides that the limit may be extended upto 12 hours by the Chief Inspector for reasons to be specified in writing.
(vii) Night shifts
Where a worker in a factory works in night shifts, i.e., shift extending beyond mid-night:
(i) the weekly or compensatory holiday shall be a period of 24 consecutive hours begining when his shift ends;
(ii) the following day shall be deemed to the period of 24 hours beginning when shift ends, and the hours he has worked after mid-night shall be counted in the previous day. (Section 57)
(viii) Prohibition of overlapping shifts
According to Section 58(1), where the work in any factory is carried on by means of multiple shifts, the period of shifts should be arranged in such a manner that not more than one relay of workers is engaged in work of the same kind at the same time.
In case of any factory or class or description of factories or any department or section of a factory or any category or description of workers, the State Government or subject to the control of the State Government, the Chief Inspector may, by written order and for specified reasons, grant exemption from the compliance of the provisions of Section 58(1) on such condition as may be deemed expedient. [Section 58(2)]
(ix) Extra wages for overtime
The following provisions have been made in respect of overtime wages:
Where a worker works in a factory for more than 9 hours in any day or more than 48 hours in any week, he shall, in respect of overtime work, be entitled to wages at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of wages. [Section 59(1)]
Meaning of ordinary rate of wages
According to Section 59(2) ordinary rate of wages means:
(i) basic wages; plus,
(ii) allowances which include the cash equivalent of the advantage accruing through the concessional sale to workers of foodgrains and other articles as the worker is for the time being entitled to, but it does not include a bonus and wages for overtime work.
House rent allowance, though payable to employers who were not provided with accommodation, cannot be taken into account to calculate overtime wages of employees provided with such accommodation (Govind Bapu Salve v. Vishwanath Janardhan Joshi, 1995 SCC (L&S) 308). An employer requiring the workman to work for more than the maximum number of hours overtime work postulated by Section 64(4)(iv) cannot merely on this ground, deny him overtime wages for such excessive hours (HMT v. Labour Court, 1994 I LLN 156).
Rate of wages for piece rate workers
Where the workers in a factory are paid on piece rate basis, the time rate shall be deemed to be equivalent to the daily average of their full-time earnings for the days on which they actually worked on the same or identical job during the month immediately preceding the calendar month during which the over-time work was done and such time rates shall be deemed to be the ordinary rates of wages of those workers.
However, in case of a worker who has not worked in the immediately preceding calendar month on the same or identical job, the time rate shall be deemed to be equivalent to the daily average of the earnings of the worker for the days on which he actually worked in the week in which the overtime work was done. [Section 59(3)]
(x) Restriction on double employment
According to Section 60, no adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in any factory on any day if he has already been working in any other factory on that day. However, in certain exceptional circumstances as may be prescribed, the double employment may be permitted.
(xi) Notice of period of work for adults
As per Section 61(1), a notice of period of work, showing clearly for everyday the periods during which adult workers may be required to work, shall be displayed and correctly maintained in every factory. The display of notice should be in accordance with the provisions of Section 108(2).
(2) The periods shown in the notice shall not contravene the provisions of the Factories Act regarding:
(a) Weekly hours, Section 51.
(b) Weekly holidays, Section 52.
(c) Compensatory holidays, Section 53.
(d) Daily Hours, Section 54.
(e) Intervals of rest, Section 55.
(f) Spread over of working hours, Section 56 and
(g) Prohibition of overlapping shifts, Section 58.
(3) The periods of work shall be fixed before hand in any of the following ways:
(i) where all the adult workers work during the same periods, the manager of the factory shall fix those periods for such workers generally; [Section 61(3)]
(ii) where all the adult workers are not working during the same period, the manager of the factory shall classify them into groups according to the nature of their work indicating the number of workers in each group; [Section 61(4)]
(iii) the manager shall fix periods of work for each such group provided they are not working on shift basis; [Section 61(5)]
(iv) where any group is working on a system of shifts, periods shall be fixed, by the manager, during which each relay of the group may work provided such relays are not subject to predetermined periodical changes of shift; [Section 61(6)]
(v) where the relays are subject to predetermined periodical changes of shifts, the manager shall draw up a scheme of shifts, whereunder the periods during which any relay of the group may be required to work and the relay which will be working at any time of the day shall be known for any day. [Section 61(7)]
(4) The form of such notice and the manner in which it shall be maintained, may be prescribed by the State Government. [Section 61(8)]
(5) Any proposed change in the system of work in the factory, which necessitates a change in the notice, shall be notified to the Inspector in duplicate before the change is made. No such change shall be made except with the previous sanction of the Inspector and that too until one week has elapsed since the last change, [Section 61(10)]. This provision intends to prevent sudden variations or casual alterations in the periods of work.
(xii) Register of adult workers
The manager of every factory shall maintain a register of adult workers to be available to the Inspector at all times during working hours containing the following particulars:
(i) the name of worker;
(ii) the nature of his work;
(iii) the group, if any, in which he is included;
(iv) where his group works on shifts, the relay to which he is allotted; and
(v) other particulars as may be prescribed.
Where any factory is maintaining a muster roll or a register which contains the above mentioned particulars, the Inspector may, by order in writing, direct that such muster roll or register shall be maintained in place of and be treated as the register of adult workers in that factory (Section 62). Further, an adult worker shall not be required or allowed to work in the factory unless his particulars have been entered in this register. [Section 62(IA)]
Inspection of the register
Section 62(1) empowers the Inspector to demand the production of register of adult workers at all times during working hours or when any work is being carried on in the factory. It is the duty of the manager to produce the register when demanded at the time of inspection. If the manager does not happen to be on the premises at the time of inspection he should make arrangement that the register is made available to the inspector. The evident intention of the legislature is that the register should be at the place where the work is going on. Thus, where a manager is absent at the time of inspection of the factory by the inspector and the assistant manager, who is present at that time fails to produce register on demand, the manager has committed breach of Section 62.
Effect of entry in the register
If the name of any person is entered in the register of adult workers, it is a conclusive evidence that the person is employed in the factory. In other words, there is a presumption that the person whose name appears in the attendance register, is employed in the factory.
Liability to maintain register
The liability to maintain register of adult workers has been imposed on the manager of the factory. The occupier cannot be held liable for failure of the manager to maintain the register. But if somebody else has been made responsible for maintaining such register, manager can plead under Section 101 that the offence was committed by another person including the occupier.
(xiii) Hours of work to correspond with notice under Section 61 and register under Section 62
No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in any factory otherwise than in accordance with the notice of period of work for adults displayed in the factory and the entries made before had against his name in the register of adult workers of the factory. (Section 63)
Presence of worker during rest period
Where a worker is merely present during the rest period as notified or is found working during that period, there is no contravention of Section 63 and hence not punishable.
(xiv) Power to make exempting rules
(1) The State Government is empowered under Section 64, to make rules defining certain persons holding supervisory or managerial or confidential positions and granting exemptions to them from the provisions of this chapter except Section 66(1 (b) and proviso to Section 66(1) provided that such person shall be entitled for extra wages in respect of overtime under Section 59 if his ordinary rate of wages is not more than Rs. 750 per month.