Is It Mandatory to Offer Paid Holidays for Festivals and National Days in 24/7 Manufacturing?

Hi,

I am working in a manufacturing company which is a continuous process and runs 24 hours. In such an industry, is it compulsory to give Paid Holiday on the occasion of Durga Puja, Independence Day, Republic Day, etc.

Mantu71

Week Off and Public Holidays for Employees

Are you giving a week off to your employees? 樂 Public holidays like Republic Day, Independence Day, and festive holidays are to be given to employees according to the state.

As per the Factory Act, it's mandatory to give a week off.

The Factories Act, 1948: Working Hours, Rest Intervals, Holidays for Adults

- Sec 51, 53, 54, 55, 56: No adult worker is to be allowed to work in a factory for more than 48 hours in a week.
- Weekly holiday on the first day of the week, which is Sunday.
- Or it may be any other day, as may be approved by the Chief Inspector of Factories for a particular area.

For national holidays and festival holidays, kindly find the below-mentioned details for Punjab and Haryana. Kindly check for Kolkata.

National and Festival Holidays

1. Every worker shall, in each calendar year, be allowed in such manner and on such conditions as may be prescribed:
- (a) Three national holidays of one whole day each on the 26th January, 15th August, and 2nd October.
- (b) Four [five for Haryana] other holidays on any of the festivals specified in the schedule appended to this Act.

Regards.

Holiday Regulations for Factories and Commercial Establishments

Holidays applicable to factories and commercial establishments are governed by State Acts. There are two types of holidays that an establishment should declare: National Holidays and Festival Holidays.

Of these, National Holidays include January 26th, August 15th, and October 2nd. In many states, May 1st, being International Labour Day or May Day, is also considered a National Holiday. These holidays are mandatory and should be a closed day for all industries, whether they operate for 8 hours or 24 hours.

There are quite a number of Festival Holidays (generally 9 days), which are declared considering the local and religious sentiments of the employees of the company. These are usually decided after consulting with the employees every year.

Given the above, if your company is not providing holidays for Durgashtami, Id, or Christmas, you naturally have no right to function. The issue that the company operates 24 hours is not the problem of the employees. If you want the operation to run 24 hours, you need to find a way to manage it. Certainly, you can engage employees on holidays on a rotation basis by giving compensatory offs and double the rate of wages as per law, but you cannot completely avoid giving holidays.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K