Overtime Eligibility - office boy works 9 hours a day, six days a week in New Delhi

Hi if an office boy works 9 hours a day, six days a week in New Delhi then is he/she eligible for overtime legally as per any labor commission
4th June 2016 From India, Delhi

Dear Sharad,

To answer your query, a critical analysis of Section 8 of the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act,1954 which deals with the employment of adults,hours of work etc, becomes essential.

Sec.8 states that no adult shall be employed or allowed to work about the business of the establishment for more than 9 hours on any day or 48 hours in any week and the occupier shall fix the daily periods of work accordingly. Most probably, the daily and weekly limits of working hours mentioned in the main part of the section is the reason for the query raised, I think. A conjunctive reading of the other two parts of the section viz., the two rider clauses and the explanation is, therefore,required to understand the import of the section as a whole.

As per the first part, the maximum daily limit of actual working hours is 9; but the weekly limit is 48 hours only. Therefore, the employer can not require 9 hrs of work from the employee on all the 6 working days because of the cap on the total weekly hours. So, it implies that the employer has to arrange the normal working hours in such a manner so that the weekly limit is not crossed. If the Office Boy works 9 hours every day means, the weekly total comes to 54 against 48 which in turn implies that the excess 6 hours are overtime work.

As per the rider clause of the first proviso which also prescribes the purposes for which OT work may be required, the total no of working hours should not exceed 54 hours in any week subject to the yearly limit of 150 hours of OT work. If the employee is required to work 6 hours of OT every week, for a year ( 52 weeks X 6) the aggregate of OT hours comes to 312 which is not permissible because of the yearly ceiling. Hence the conclusion in view of this clause is that the employer can not require 6 hours of OT work from the employee in all the 52 weeks of the year.

As per the rider clause of the second proviso which also mandates the prior permission of the Chief Inspector fixes the rate of overtime wages as twice the rate of normal working hour.

The explanation clause further clarifies that the day shall be reckoned as consisting of 8 hours for the purpose of calculating the normal hourly wages.

The final conclusion is that the Office Boy is entitled to OT wages beyond 8 hours of work and the employer is entitled to require him to work over time only subject to the limits imposed on the weekly working hours and yearly overtime work hours.
4th June 2016 From India, Salem

Dear Sir
Thanks for such informative post with clause wise explanation.
Sir please confirm my understanding.
It means 9 hours per day (inclusive 1 hour of breaks for tea/lunch) will save you from paying Overtime as per shops and establishment Act.
The overtime is paid on all the regular components of salary(Basic, DA. HRA, Special Allowance) as per minimum wage act.(Travelling Allowance/ Conveyance can be excluded).
Overtime is paid to non-managerial staff only. (What is the criteria to judge )
Regards
Puran
16th June 2019 From India, New Delhi