Office Hours in India: How Many Hours Can Employees Legally Work?

Office Hours and Employee Work Eligibility in India

What are the office hours in India, and how many hours is an employee eligible to work according to labor law?

Thank you for supporting me in creating the HR Manual for our employees. It states that adults can work 8.5 hours a day. I have another query: if an employee has signed the appointment letter from the organization and the timings are mentioned as 9 to 6:30, can the employee request a change or take any action regarding the timing?

Thank you,

Jaya

The terms and conditions of the appointment letter, by itself, in many cases, normally do not remain in force all the time. There are "Standing Orders" and other Acts to regulate the working hours by category. There are bilateral or tripartite agreements with unions, etc., by which an establishment can change the working hours by mutual agreement. Nowadays, many establishments follow a 5-day workweek, in which case no acts are infringed, and working hours are suitably modified in terms and conditions. Therefore, as long as employees agree, timings are implemented.

Regards,
Kumar S.

To the first question: There is no law in India that specifies what time the office should start or end. As for total working hours, the rule is that no one can be asked (or allowed) to work for more than 9 hours a day or 48 hours a week. Both the Factory Act and the Shops & Establishment Acts have this clause. The work hours considered above are excluding breaks and may be extended for overlaps to ensure a proper handover to the workers of the next shift (your query was on the office, so this does not apply).

Working from 9 to 6:30 with a 1-hour or even half-hour break by itself is not a violation of the law. If he is to work a 6-day week, then he will exceed 48 hours, which is not allowed. Otherwise, he does not really have any ground for action.

Hi Saswata,

Where in the law does it state that 9 hours per day include or exclude rest timings?

Dear Aakriti,

As per the law, an employee should not work for more than 48 hours in a week, which means 8 hours x 6 working days, including rest/meal time, etc. If your organization has a 5-day working week, accordingly, you can calculate, i.e., 9.5 hours x 5 working days, totaling 47.5 hours. Hope this clarifies your doubt.

In a six-day working week, if we consider 8 hours of actual work, then the rest interval is additional. In a five-day working week, we are unable to require employees to work for more than 9 hours per day, excluding rest intervals. To determine working hours, rest intervals, and spreadover, we must refer to the relevant State Shops Act, Factories Act of 1948, Minimum Wages Act of 1948, or any other applicable legislation in your case.

R N KHOLA

Dear All,

My query is as follows: My office time starts at 9:00 am. Can I come to the office at 8:30 am intentionally or otherwise? Is it possible? If possible, will the 0.30 hours be counted as overtime or not?

Is there any provision in the Factory Act for "Early coming"?

Regards,
Manoj