Are Our Office Hours Breaking the Law? Seeking Advice on Adjusting Work Schedule for Compliance

My organization's office hours are from 9 AM to 6:30 PM, with Saturday and Sunday as weekly off days and a 30-minute lunch break. According to this schedule, we are working 9.5 hours. As per the Shops and Establishment Act, no worker should work more than nine hours on any day and forty-eight hours in any week. Please advise if we need to change our policy to keep the working hours to 9 hours and continue with Saturday and Sunday off.

In a day, 9 hours are compulsory because, as per the Factory Act, lunchtime (30 minutes) and two tea breaks of 15 minutes each are added to the 8-hour workday. Therefore, your actual working hours amount to 8 hours. According to the Factory Act, 9 hours are correct in a day because tea breaks and lunchtime are facilities provided by your company.

The existing system is absolutely okay. Total hours, including spread over, are 9.5 hours. Half an hour is for rest. Therefore, the total working hours per day are 9 hours. As Saturday and Sunday are off, the total weekly hours are 45 hours. There is no violation of any law.

Regards, S K Bandyopadhyay (WB, Howrah)

Hi, based on the information you provided, the current working hours are 9.5 hours per day, which exceeds the nine-hour limit set by the Shops and Establishment Act. To comply with the Act, you may consider adjusting your organization's policies to limit the daily working hours to nine hours.

Additionally, it's important to ensure that the total weekly working hours do not exceed the limit specified by the Act, which is 48 hours in any week. If your organization's current schedule exceeds this limit, you may need to adjust the weekly working hours accordingly.

It's recommended to review the specific regulations of the Shops and Establishment Act applicable to your location, as these regulations can vary between states and countries. Consulting with legal professionals or authorities familiar with labor laws in your jurisdiction can provide you with more specific guidance tailored to your organization's situation.

Thanks

There is some confusion between working hours and spread-over hours. 9.30 hours are spread over an hour, i.e., including a lunch break. The lunch break of half an hour is not considered a working hour; the working hour is 9 hours.

It is a 5-day week organization with 9 working hours per day. Therefore, the total working hours per week amount to 45 hours. Both the per day work hours and per week hours are within legal limits as per the law.

If the working hours are 9.5 hours with a half-hour lunch break, i.e., 10 hours spread-over hours, then it does not meet the legal conditions.

S K Bandyopadhyay (WB, Howrah) CEO - USD HR Solutions [Phone Number Removed For Privacy-Reasons] [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons] www.usdhrs.in