Navigating Night Shifts: What Legal Steps Must Our New IT Company in Panchkula Take?

We are a newly registered Private Limited Company (IT) in Panchkula, Haryana. Due to certain conditions, we work late at night. Now I want to know:

1) Is there any kind of registration required (Shops and Establishment) to operate the company? Are there any legal formalities?

2) Is there any kind of permission required to work the night shift? We do not have any women employees.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Registration Under the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act

Obviously, registration under your state's Shops and Commercial Establishments Act is mandatory to run an IT firm. Therefore, first of all, you should get it by applying to the State Labour Department.

Working During Night Shifts

You can work during night shifts for which no separate permission is required. However, if women are employed, you have to verify whether any notification permitting the engagement of women during 7 pm to 6 am has been issued. Many states have notified permitting flexible timing and engagement of women during nights, especially for IT companies. Please go through the notification. Normally, the bare Act/book on the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act itself will contain such notifications.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Registration Under The Punjab Shops & Establishment Act, 1958

As clarified by Mr. Madhu T K, you need to get your establishment registered under The Punjab Shops & Establishment Act, 1958, as applicable to the state of Haryana. You should apply online using the website . Once you obtain online registration, you are not required to observe closing days and opening and closing timings. If you are not employing women employees, then there is no need to seek any exemption for women working night shifts.

This is also to inform you that the website of the Haryana Labour Department has not been functioning for more than 20 days. Therefore, the registration process under the Shops Act is currently on hold due to the unavailability of the website.

Definition of Night Shift

According to this Act, the definition of the night shift may be understood as follows: 'night' means a period of at least twelve consecutive hours which includes the interval between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Regards,
R.N. KHOLA (LL&IR)
[Welcome Skylark Associates](http://www.skylarkassociates.com/)

Thanks, Madhu and Mr. Khola. Yes, I have gone through the website, and it is still under upgrade. I feel I need to personally go to the labor department and register our organization. I will let you know if I encounter any problems with that. Thanks for all your help.