AR
Dear All ,
Just wanted to know if a person refuses to work in Night Shift /odd hours be considered a case of insubordination and terminated .
The person's offer letter doesnot talk about the night shifts and assuming their is no health issues what should the course of action be
Regards,
Anju

From India, Mumbai
jitendra.pomendkar
3

Madame, What is the nature of work he is suppose to do ? Certain job require to work in shifts . pl revert . Then may be i will try to help you jitendra
From United States, Boston
eafil.hr
7

if the person's offer letter or appointment letter not talk abt ths issue then u can't ask him for the same. infact he can create a legal issue incase u terminate him on this ground.
regards,
EAFIL :idea:

From India, Delhi
samvedan
315

Hi,

It is necessary to know the industry that we are talking about.

The question is usually related to the terms and conditions of employment. These are found in the applicable employment statues, the Appointment Letter, Service Rules and the case law on the subject etc.

Normally night shift is worked in Factories. The other places are the hospitals, restaurants and residential hotels and may be there are a few more types ofthe organization where night shift is required to be worked.

If the organization is covered under the Factories Act and Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946 is applicable, then the individual concerned is obliged under law to work night shift. If the Standing Orders are NOT applicable and if there are Service Rules defining the terms & conditions of employment then again he may be obliged to work the night shift! If the standing Orders are NOT applicable and nor are the Service Rules but the Appointment Lette has stipulated such an obligation, he may be obliged to work night shift!

If Factories Act is NOT applicable and the individual is employed in other types of organizations described above including, perhaps the BPOs, Back-end Offices etc. (as are covered under the Shops & Commercial Establishments Act) again the above analogies will apply but ONLY if the concerned organization is exempted under the applicable law from normal working hours stipulations and is thus permitted to work night shifts.

Refusal to work night shift when one is obliged work in night shift, as explained above is a misconduct and disciplinary proceedings will be in order before termination can be thought of. Again it depends upon the status of the employee-whether a "workman" under the Industrial Disputes Act or not. The management response will have to determined based on consideration of above facts!!

Are we clear as to our action options please?

Regards

samvedan

November 18, 2006

From India, Pune
AR
All ,
Thanks for the reply... this is in context of IT service which are moving towards 24x7 support.
Pls let me know what should be the plan of action in case any company wish to change to shifts /timings . Is prior notice /consensus from employees needed
Anju

From India, Mumbai
samvedan
315

Hi,

IT Services company moving towards 24X7 environment means to me that you are covered under the local Shops & Commercial Establishments Act. This would mean that you have to cross at least TWO obstacles.

The first is to get exemption from existing workung hours stipulations under the act. This is done by making a suitable application to the authorities who would be required to process the same with their bosses in the Labour ministry and depending upon your ability to convince the authorities of the need to resort to 24X7 environment you would get the necessary exemption.

The second obstacle is to make "shift working" an element of your service rules and/or terms and conditions of employment.

Once these two matters are resolved you have the necessary flexibility and the authority to enforce shift working in your establishment.

A good lawyer who handles Shops Act matters should be able to get you the exemption and thereafter we will see how to make shift working a term or condition of employment!

You are lucky that you got this reply so fast. The reason is that I am going to be out of circulation for the next five days or so!

Cheers

Regards

samvedan

November 18, 2006

From India, Pune
aby_vas
2

Well if the company was priorly working in a 24X7 environment before engagement of this employee and that a clause is mentioned in his appointment letter that he can be transferred or placed to any working place wihtin the stipulated norms, he can challenge working in night-shift only on medical grounds and still company can take action against him for prolonged illness to carry his work.
From India, Panipat
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