Sunday Work and Double Overtime: Do We Still Need to Offer Compensatory Off in Pune?

If we called a blue-collar employee on Sunday to work and paid double overtime on gross salary, let us know if it is mandatory to give a compensatory off for Sunday working if we have already given double overtime. What is the legal provision and recommendation of the Factory Act 1948, and can we stop the compensatory off practices if we have already compensated with double overtime pay? Our plant is in Pune, Maharashtra.

Dear Sunil,

The workers are entitled to double their regular hourly wage for overtime hours. This wage includes basic wages and any allowances. The total number of hours of overtime work shall not exceed 50 for anyone in a quarter.

Thank you.

Section 59: Overtime and Extra Wages

This section rewards workers who are working beyond the maximum time limits. It states that those who work more than 9 hours a day or 48 hours weekly are entitled to be paid at double the wage rate compared to the ordinary wage rate for the extra time. The 'ordinary wage rate' includes only the basic salary and allowances; it does not include bonuses and other perks. Moreover, factories need to maintain proper registers for the details of the extra time worked by the workers and the payments made to them.

Regarding the stipulation of duty off for the worked hours on overtime, the overall ceiling of 9 hours a day and 48 hours a week comes into play.

Section 59: 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, they shall, in respect of overtime work, be entitled to wages at the rate of twice their ordinary rate of wages.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (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 food grains and other articles, as the worker is for the time being entitled to, but does not include a bonus and wages for overtime work.

Minimum Wages Act, 1948

Under the Minimum Wages Act of 1948, when a worker's hours go beyond their regular shift, they should get overtime pay per hour.

Factories Act, 1948

According to the Factories Act of 1948, if a worker puts in more than 9 hours in a single day or exceeds 48 hours in a week, they are entitled to receive overtime pay, which is twice their usual wage.

According to the Factories Act of 1948 in Maharashtra, if a worker is required to work on a holiday, they are entitled to be paid double their normal wages for the hours worked on that holiday.

The employees can either be paid double the wages or given a day of leave for holiday working. You cannot run the show to evade the weekly off by paying double. The Factory Act also restricts maximum working hours, including overtime, to 60 hours and a maximum of 50 hours of overtime for three months. In a month, 4 weekly offs amount to 32 hours of overtime and 48 hours of normal working. Therefore, the total working hours are 80 hours, which exceeds the limit of 60 hours by 20 hours, resulting in a violation.

Important Sections of the Factories Act

There are two very important sections under the Factories Act: Section 52 and Section 53.

Section 52: Weekly Holidays

As per Section 52, no adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in a factory on the first day of the week (in this case, it is Sunday), unless:

He has or will have a holiday for a whole day on one of the three days immediately before or after the said day—provided that no substitution shall be made which will result in any worker working for more than 10 days consecutively without a holiday for a whole day.

Where, in accordance with the provisions, any worker works on the said day and has had a holiday on one of the three days immediately before it, that said day shall, for the purpose of calculating his weekly hours of work, be included in the preceding week.

Therefore, the question of overtime will not arise under Section 52.

Section 53: Compensatory Holidays

If it is not possible to allow any weekly holiday as per Section 52, he shall be allowed, within the month in which the holidays were due to him or within the two months immediately following that month, compensatory holidays of an equal number to the holidays so lost. In this case, as the working hours in a week will be more than 48 hours, overtime should be paid.

Regards, S K Bandyopadhyay (WB, Howrah) CEO-USD HR Solutions [Phone Number Removed For Privacy-Reasons]