Is Working All Weekly Offs and Overtime a Breach of the Shops and Establishment Act?

As per the Shops and Establishment Act, an employee is eligible for a weekly off. Suppose he has to work for all 4 weekly offs and be paid overtime at twice the ordinary rate. Is this a breach of the law?

Overtime Regulations Under the Shops and Establishment Act

According to the Shops and Establishment Act, an adult can be engaged for a maximum of 10 hours a day and should be paid overtime for 2 hours. Is this to be considered the overtime limit, or should it adhere to the limit of 50 hours per quarter? If inevitable, how many hours of working with overtime are permissible under the act?

Understanding Weekly Offs and Overtime under the Shops and Establishment Act

Every state has its own laws regarding this matter. Assuming it is Karnataka, regarding your first query, the Act does not allow any establishment to mandate working on a weekly off day and holiday. However, an exception exists if you provide the employee a holiday on any other day in the week or the establishment allows for one and a half days of rest.

Work hours shall not exceed 50 overtime hours in a quarter, and that too only during emergencies or accounting periods. As per the Act, overtime shall require double pay for the employee.

This is it as per the Act. However, if the employee voluntarily agrees and forms a separate contract for such work to be done, with a different consideration amount, and both parties, the employer and the employee, agree to do so without applying the employment benefits, it may be done. But it must not go against any laws and must be exclusively a temporary adjustment. Since you have mentioned that it is inevitable, and no PF or other benefits would apply to such consideration or amount decided to complete the work, I again mention it has to be a temporary solution, either for a very small specific period or only until the work is done. Here, he will not work completely as an employee but as a party to the contract. And I again clarify, this temporary solution has nothing to do with the Act.

Overtime Calculation Under the Bombay Shop and Establishment Act

We are following the Bombay Shop and Establishment Act. According to that, how are we supposed to calculate the overtime done by a person on an hourly basis? How much do you pay if the person works for 2 hours or 3 hours? Can overtime be adjusted with coming late to the office?

Regards