Legal Work Hours Confusion: What Happens If You Exceed 48 Hours a Week?

Understanding Legal Work Hours and Overtime

According to the law, an employee can't work more than 48 hours in a week and is eligible for one weekly day off. If a worker exceeds 48 hours, they are entitled to overtime pay. However, working more than 48 hours is illegal, which creates confusion. What should we do, and what are the penalties? Please explain.

According to the Labour Law and Minimum Wages Act, the working hours in any organization should be 8 hours, excluding the break time, which is 1 hour. This amounts to 48 hours a week if the respected company works for 6 days a week. As per company requirements, overtime can be included in the working hours, although it should not exceed 12 hours per week and 50 hours in a quarter. So, according to the law, it is illegal, but I'm sure you have experienced companies working outside of this rule. For penalties, please refer to the Labour Law of India.

You mean to say that an employee can work 10 hours per day excluding break time, but we will have to pay overtime. So, does it have to be mentioned in any act or not?

Nitin - The right response here is this: An employee can work 48 hours in a week, legally and at the compensation agreed upon. Asking an employee to work more hours than the stated 48 hours is illegal, and anything beyond that is considered 'overtime' and requires the employee to be compensated at a rate over and above the pay.

Net/Net:

1) Employee works 48 hours a week and gets paid his monthly salary (48 hours every week, for all weeks of the month) - Legal

2) Employee paid at the rate of 48 hours a week but forced to work additional hours without pay - Illegal

Dear Member,

You mean to say that if we have a lot of work and we need to work extra, so if an employee agrees to work extra, then he can work more than eight hours, whether there is extra work for two hours or double duty, meaning eight hours.

Working Hours as per the Factory Act

As per the Factory Act regarding working hours, the following points are outlined below:

• The maximum working hours in a day can be 8 hours, and 48 hours in a week as a routine.

• Working hours should be arranged so that workmen receive at least a half-hour rest after continuous working for 5 hours.

• In the case of urgent repair of factory equipment or machinery, your unit is exempted to work for a maximum of 10 hours in a day. This means that all working hours cannot exceed 10 hours per day.

• Only in situations of urgent repairs and continuous processes, overtime (OT) can be performed, and not otherwise.

• The total working hours, including overtime, cannot exceed 60 hours per week.

• Overtime will not exceed 50 hours in a quarter.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Now I understand. Sir, could you tell me one more thing? We want to change our policy. We want to give two weekly offs in a week (Saturday and Sunday), but the working hours will be nine hours rather than eight hours in a day. Is this possible, sir?

Dear Nitin,

First of all, this act applies in those units where I don't think any employer would want to have five days of working in a week. Anyway, if you want to change the company policy, you can, but there is no matter of five working days or six working days. The important thing is that weekly working hours should not exceed 48 hours (normal). For more clarification, I request seniors to please share your valuable views.

Just needed a small help regarding working time. I am working in an organization and doing almost 72 hours a week. There's no overtime which has been paid to me till now. Is this legal?

And if I would be interested in complaining about this issue, how to go about it or where to report them - Please let me know - Thanks in Advance.

Before somebody puts their comment, we would like to know further information regarding your work, such as the industry you are in, your designation, and the location of your organization.

Legal Requirements for Working Hours

As per legal requirements, and as many friends have suggested, employees are not allowed to work beyond 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week, excluding break hours. There are provisions for working overtime within permissible limits, but that must be paid at double the standard wages – that is the right of the employee.

Regarding complaints, please provide the necessary data first, as mentioned above.

You can have a 5-day working week (two weekly offs). You can plan your employees' shift schedule for 10 hours per day, and the lunch break is 30 minutes. So, each day, your employees will work for 9.30 hours. For example: 8.30 AM to 6.30 PM, with a lunch break from 1 PM to 1.30 PM.

Therefore, the total working hours in a week would be 9.30 x 5 days = 47.30 hours, which is allowed as per the Factories Act. However, you must submit Form-11 with the new shift schedule to the factories department before implementing the new schedule. Please contact your Inspector of Factories for further clarification.

Regards,
V. K. Rao

Dear Team,

As per the rule, including overtime, a person can work at most 54 hours and not more than that in a week. If anyone wants to adjust, in 5 working days, normally IT companies do 9 hours per day and Saturday half day, which is quite acceptable.

Understanding Overtime Laws in HR

I found this question immature. Why? Because you should know these simple things as you are working in HR, and it relates to benefits and compensation. In every country, there are laws applicable to industries. You should read and learn some basic rules from the Factories Act, Standing Orders, or the Shop & Establishment Act. The law suggests that an adult worker can work for 48 hours a week, excluding lunch or breaks. If a company needs a worker to work extra hours, the worker is entitled to have overtime, which is paid at rates different from the normal hours. It should be double the normal rate. For example, if a worker is receiving a salary of 15,000 per month, then the rate per hour is Rs. 62.5. However, when the company requires him/her to work overtime, this rate would be doubled, i.e., 62.5 x 2 = 125 Rupees per hour.

I hope you understand what I am trying to convey.

Regards,
Khurram

Section 59 in The Factories Act, 1948

It is clearly stated below in Section 59 of the Factories Act 1948 that a worker shall, in respect of overtime work, be entitled to wages at the rate of twice (doubled) his ordinary rate of wages.

Extra Wages for Overtime

(1) Where a worker works in a factory for more than nine hours in any day or for more than forty-eight hours in any week, he shall, in respect of overtime work, be entitled to wages at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of wages.

(2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), "ordinary rate of wages" means the basic wages plus such allowances, including the cash equivalent of the advantage accruing through the concessional sale to workers of foodgrains and other articles, as the worker is for the time being entitled to, but does not include a bonus and wages for overtime work.

Dear Mr. AR85,

Your case is illegal. You can file a complaint against your organization in the labor court or the office of the Assistant Labour Commissioner. Prior to that, you should not have signed any contractual agreement regarding the conditions of service.

Regards,
Sekharendu Behera

Hi,

If you want to change 8 hours per day to 9 hours per day, it can be changed, but the lunch and breakfast should be included in the 9 hours of the employee's working time. It should be given after 5 hours of working, but the total weekly hours should not exceed 48 hours.