Understanding Working Hours, Overtime, and Compensation for Researchers in R&D Departments

Sir,

I have one more doubt. As per the Factory Act, if a worker or employee works more than 48 hours in a week, then he should be eligible for overtime pay, which is double the regular rate. However, if he is a researcher in a chemical company, how should his salary be calculated? Researchers are individuals whose work never ends. Please help.

Will you treat a researcher in the R&D department of an industrial establishment on par with an ordinary worker in the same?

His designation is Researcher in the R&D department, so his working hours are the same as other people's working time.

Work Schedule and Compensation for Researchers

Whatever the type of establishment or the nature of the job, there cannot be any work schedule with indefinite working hours. The job of a researcher in the R&D Department, whether situated within the premises of a factory or elsewhere, is no different. Particularly, the general purpose behind the grant of overtime work with restrictions, such as the maximum limit per day, per week, per month, or quarter, and the payment of overtime wages at premium rates, is to curb the tendency of employers extracting excess work from employees whose work is normally measured by time, instead of employing extra labor force.

There cannot be any comparison between a researcher and an ordinary blue-collar workman like a fitter or a white-collar workman like a clerk or cashier. The nature of the job of a researcher cannot be precisely measured in terms of hours. At times, it would be more time-consuming, even extending beyond the normal working hours, or they can call it a day within the normal span of working hours depending upon the intricacies of the research project being done stage by stage. Therefore, my suggestion would be flexible work timing with a good compensation package for researchers in the R&D as an alternative to overtime work.

An employee working in the Research & Development Center is working according to their accomplishment of assigned tasks, somewhere it may even be longer which may not be completed in a particular time. So if an employee stays for more than 48 hours in a week, it may not be calculated as per Overtime Basis.