Can My Shop Open on a National Holiday? Understanding the Delhi Shops and Establishment Act

Dear Friends,

I have a small query. My organization is registered under the Delhi Shops and Establishment Act. The company wants to open a showroom tomorrow, i.e., on 2nd October, which otherwise is a national holiday. Can you please help me with the complete act, or confirm the penalty amount for opening shops on a national holiday?

Regards, Fatima

Thanks, Mr. Peer,

True. Loads and loads of information is available on CITE HR. The first thing I did was search CITEHR for my query, but it seemed that there were many who asked questions similar to mine but didn't get any answers. My whole concern as of now is sales employees. I want the penalty details for opening a showroom on a national holiday so that I can convince the GM to reconsider his decision. My organization is registered under the Shops and Establishment Act.

Regards,
Fatima

Dear Fatima,

I am working in an organization that has showrooms. Sometimes, we tend to open showrooms on national holidays. For opening showrooms, you can give your workers a compensatory day off on the very next day or within the week, one by one, to all employees who worked on 2nd October. Alternatively, you can also give them overtime pay. In this case, you have to follow the overtime formula where you pay double the amount of the per day salary.

I hope I have cleared your doubts.

Regards,
Ambalika

Dear Ambalika,

Thank you for the practical suggestion. Actually, this is exactly what we are doing - making them work tomorrow and in turn giving them comp off this month itself, or else encash the same with this month's salary.

However, my concern was to get them a holiday tomorrow. I aim to achieve this by convincing the sales head for the same or informing him about the legalities of the matter.

Best Regards,
Fatima

Hi Fatima,

If you want, you can inform your senior about the legalities if you open your shop on a National holiday and if you have to pay three times the salary of each employee who is working on that particular day. It's against labor law, and the labor department can take action against the company.

Regards,
Ambalika

One should look at the organization's perspective as well. In today's competitive world, we cannot run the organization with all bank holidays as mentioned. One should understand that if the employer is willing to pay extra money to work on holidays, we should also adjust accordingly because if the organization grows, then we all benefit.

Otherwise, we should consider working in the public sector/government sector and utilize all holidays as prescribed by law.

Mr. Doshi,

We are talking about National Holidays, which are very few in number. Going by the norms, we do have a prescribed set of 10 to 12 holidays in a year, which is provided to every class of employee. However, I must say that the Indian entrepreneur tends to eat his/her way into the employees' pie in such a way that the employee tends to be the sufferer. Most of these small-time companies or startups don't even have a proper structure in place with respect to leaves and other mandatory labor rules and regulations.

Regards,
Phillipose P John

Rather than blame Indian entrepreneurs, please verify holidays in other countries. In case you find Indian entrepreneurs do not work, you can find a job elsewhere. As far as holidays are concerned, many shops, hotels, and restaurants are jam-packed on holidays, whether they are normal or national. Consider what you would do if you cannot find a hotel, chemist, hospital, theater, and many others on a holiday.