Overtime Pay Dilemma: Should 6+2 Hour Shifts in Tirupur Garment Sector Get Premium Rates?

Dear All,

Work Hours and Overtime in the Tirupur Garment Sector

In the Tirupur garment sector, most factories operate for 8 hours, plus an additional 1 to 2 hours of overtime daily based on their requirements. This extra work is paid at a premium rate as well. The regular work hours are normally from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm.

In a few cases, workers report to work at 11:00 am, work for 6 hours a day, and then after 5:30 pm, they work for 2 hours until 7:30 pm. Here, the worker has not completed 8 hours of regular work. Any work exceeding 8 hours is considered overtime, and in this case, since the worker has not completed 8 hours of work, the question of a premium rate does not arise. Right?

Query on Overtime Payment

My query is, in this scenario, do we need to pay overtime wages at a premium rate for this extra work, or is regular pay for 8 hours sufficient for the work rendered from 11:00 am to 7:30 pm?

Kindly advise.

Dear Rameshan,

If you look at this from a statutory standpoint, then you need not pay any overtime. However, if you have requested them to work for 6 hours and they have put in an extra 2 hours, then ethically you should pay them overtime. This is more about commitment rather than statutory norms.

Dear Manoj Kamble, Thank you for the input. It is good to note that it is legally right to state that this 6+2 hours is not overtime work. But I do not understand how this question of ethics is coming in...? They do not work for more than 8 hours, so there is no question of legal or moral liability to pay double the rate of wages.