Chapter VII - Hours and annual leave

25. Daily and weekly working hours, leave, etc.— (1) No worker shall be required or allowed to
work, in any establishment or class of establishment for more than—

       (a) eight hours in a day; and

       (b) the period of work in each day under clause (a) shall be so fixed, as not to exceed such hours,
   with such intervals and spread overs , as may be notified by the appropriate Government:

   Provided that subject to clause (a) in the case of mines,—

            (i) the persons employed below ground in a mine shall not be allowed to work for more than
      such hours as may be notified by the Central Government in any day;

             (ii) no work shall be carried on below ground in any mine except by a system of shifts so
      arranged that the period of work for each shift is not spread over more than the daily maximum
      hours as notified under clause (i);

             (iii) no person employed in a mine shall be allowed to be present in any part of a mine below
     ground except during the periods of work shown in respect of him in the register maintained under
      clause (a) of section 33:

   Provided further that subject to clause (a) that the hours of work in case of motor transport worker
shall include—

            (i) the time spent in work done during the running time of the transport vehicle;

             (ii) the time spent in subsidiary work; and

             (iii) period of mere attendance at terminals of less than fifteen minutes.

   Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section—

          (a) “running time” in relation to a working day means the time from the moment a transport
      vehicle starts functioning at the beginning of the working day until the moment when the transport
      vehicle ceases to function at the end of the working day, excluding any time during which the
      running of the transport vehicle is interrupted for a period exceeding such duration as may be
      prescribed by the Central Government during which period the persons who drive, or perform any
      other work in connection with the transport vehicle are free to dispose of their time as they please
      or are engaged in subsidiary work;

          (b) “subsidiary work” means the work in connection with a transport vehicle, its passengers or
        its load which is done outside the running time of the transport vehicle, including in particular—

                (i) the work in connection with accounts, paying of cash, signing of registers, handover of
          service sheets, the checking of tickets and other similar work;

                 (ii) taking over and garaging of the transport vehicles;

                 (iii) travelling from the place where a person signs on to the place where he takes over the
          transport vehicle and from the place where he leaves the transport vehicle to the place where he
         signs off;

               (iv) work in connection with the upkeep and repair of the transport vehicle; and

              (v) the loading and unloading of the transport vehicle;

          (c) “period of mere attendance” means the period during which a person remains at his post
      solely in order to reply to possible calls or to resume action at the time fixed in the duty schedule.

       (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the hours of work for working journalist
    shall, subject to a maximum of one hundred and forty-four hours of work during any period of four
   consecutive weeks and a period of not less than twenty-four consecutive hours of rest during any
   period of seven consecutive days, be such as may be prescribed by the Central Government.

       (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) and (2), a sales promotion employee or
   the working journalist,—

            (i) in addition to such holidays, casual leave or other kinds of leave as may be prescribed by the
      Central Government, shall be granted, if requested for—

             (a) earned leave on full wages for not less than one-eleventh of the period spent on duty;

             (b) leave on medical certificate on one-half of the wages for not less than one-eighteenth of
         the period of service;

             (ii) may accumulate earned leave up to such maximum limit as may be prescribed by the Central
     Government;

             (iii) shall be entitled for the limit up to which the earned leave may be either encashed or availed
      of at a time by him and the reasons for which such limit may be exceeded shall be such as may be
      prescribed by the Central Government;

           (iv) shall,—

             (a) when he voluntarily relinquishes his post or retires from service; or

             (b) when his services are terminated for any reason whatsoever (not being termination as
         punishment),

be entitled to cash compensation, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed by the
Central Government (including conditions by way of specifying the maximum period for which such cash
compensation shall be payable), in respect of the earned leave earned by him and not availed of;

          (v) who dies while in service, his heirs shall be entitled to cash compensation for the earned
      leave earned by him and not availed of his heirs shall be paid the cash compensation in respect of
     any period of earned leave for which he or his heirs, is or are entitled to cash compensation under
      clause (iv) or clause (v), which shall be an amount equal to the wages due to him for such period.


       (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the working hours of an adolescent worker
   shall be regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition
   and Regulation) Act, 1986 (61 of 1986).

26. Weekly and compensatory holidays.—(1) No worker  shall be allowed  to work  in an
establishment for more than six days in any one week:

   Provided that in any motor transport undertaking, an employer may, in order to prevent any dislocation
of a motor transport service, require a worker to work on any day of weekly holiday which is not a
holiday so arranged that the worker does not work for more than ten days consecutively without a holiday
for a whole day intervening.

   (2) The appropriate Government may, by notification, exempt such workers as it thinks fit from the
provisions of sub-section (1), subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

   (3) Where, as a result of the passing of an order or the making of a rule under the provisions of this
Code exempting an establishment or the workers therein from the provisions of sub-section (1), a worker
is deprived of any of the weekly holidays, the worker shall be allowed, within the month in which the
holidays were due or within the two months immediately following that month, compensatory holidays of
equal number to the holidays, so deprived.

27. Extra wages for overtime.—There shall be paid wages at the rate of twice the rate of wages in
respect of overtime work, where a worker works in an establishment or class of establishment for more
than such hours of work in any day or in any week as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government
and the period of overtime work shall be calculated on a daily basis or weekly basis, whichever is more
favourable to such worker:

   Provided that a worker shall be required to work overtime by the employer subject to the consent of
such worker for such work:

   Provided further that the appropriate Government may prescribe the total number of hours of overtime.

28. Night shifts.—Where a worker in an establishment works on a shift which extends beyond
midnight,—

       (a) for the purposes of section 26, a weekly holiday for a whole day shall mean in his case a period
   of twenty-four consecutive hours beginning when his shift ends;

       (b) the following day for him shall be deemed to be the period of twenty-four hours beginning
  when such shift ends, and the hours he has worked after midnight shall be counted in the previous day.

29. Prohibition of overlapping shifts. — (1) The work shall not be carried on in any establishment by
means of a system of shifts so arranged that more than one relay of workers is engaged in work of the
same kind at the same time.

    (2) The appropriate Government or subject to the approval of the appropriate Government, the Chief
Inspector-cum-Facilitator, may, by written order and for the reasons specified therein, exempt on such
conditions as may be deemed expedient, any establishment or class of establishments or any department
or section of an establishment or any category or description of workers therein from the provisions of
sub-section (1):

   Provided that the provisions of this sub-section shall not apply to mines.

30. Restriction on double employment in factory and mine.—No worker shall be required or
allowed to work in a mine or factory  if he has already been working in any other such similar
establishment within the preceding twelve hours, save in such circumstances as may be prescribed by the
appropriate Government.

31. Notice of periods of work.—(1) There shall be displayed and correctly maintained in every
establishment a notice of periods of work, showing clearly for every day the periods during which
workers may be required to work in accordance with the provisions of this Code.




   (2) The form of notice required by sub-section (1), the manner of display of such notice and the
manner in which such notice shall be sent to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator shall be such as may be
prescribed by the appropriate Government.

   (3) Any proposed change in the system of work in any establishment which will necessitate a change
in the notice referred to in sub-section (1) shall be intimated to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator before the
change is made, and except with the previous sanction of the Inspector-cum-Facilitator, no such change
shall be made until one week has elapsed since that last change.

32. Annual leave with wages, etc.—(1) Every worker employed in an establishment shall be entitled
for leave in a calendar year with wages subject to the following conditions, namely:—

        (i) that he has worked one hundred and eighty days or more in such calendar year;

        (ii) that he shall be entitled for one-day leave for every twenty days of his work, in the case of
   adolescent worker for fifteen days of his work, and in case of worker employed below ground mine, at
   the rate of one day for every fifteen days of his work, in such calendar year;

         (iii) any period of layoff, maternity leave or annual leave availed by such worker in such calendar
   year shall be counted for calculating the period of one hundred and eighty days or more under
   clause (i), but he shall not earn leave for the period so counted;

       (iv) any holidays falling between the leave availed by such worker (in a calendar year or prefixed or
   suffixed holiday) shall be excluded from the period of leave so availed;

       (v) in case of such worker whose service commences otherwise than on the first day of January
   shall be entitled to leave with wages at the rate specified in clause (ii), if he has worked for one-fourth
   of the total number of days in the remainder of the calendar year;

       (vi) in case such worker is discharged or dismissed from service or quits employment or  is
   superannuated or dies while in service, during the course of the calendar year, such worker or his heir
   or nominee, shall be entitled to wages in lieu of the quantum of leave to which such worker was
   entitled immediately before his discharge, dismissal, quitting of employment, superannuation or death,
   calculated as specified in preceding clauses, even if such worker has not worked for the required
   period under this sub-section making such worker eligible to avail such leave, and such payment shall
   be made—

          (a) where such worker is discharged or dismissed or quits employment before the expiry of the
      second working day from the date of such discharge, dismissal or quitting; and

          (b) where such worker is superannuated or dies while in service, before the expiry of two
     months from the date of such superannuation or death;

        (vii) if such worker does not in any one calendar year take the whole of the leave allowed to him
   under this sub-section and the rules made thereunder, then, any leave not taken by him shall be added
   to the leave to be allowed to him in the succeeding calendar year so that—

          (a) the total number of days of leave that may be carried forward to a succeeding year shall not
      exceed thirty days; and

          (b) such worker, who has applied for leave with wages but has not been given such leave in
      accordance with this sub-section and the rules made thereunder shall be entitled to carry forward
      the leave refused without any limit;

        (viii) without prejudice to clause (vi) such worker shall be entitled on his demand for encashment of
   leave at the end of calendar year;

       (ix) such worker shall be entitled, where his total number of leave exceeds thirty days under
   sub-clause (a) of clause (vii), to encash such exceeded leave.

   (2) The appropriate Government may, by notification, extend the provisions of sub-section (1) to any
other establishment except railway establishment.




   (3) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not operate to the prejudice of any right to which a person
employed in a mine may be entitled under any other law or under the terms of any award, agreement or
contract of service:

   Provided that if such award, agreement or contract of service, provides for longer annual leave with
wages than that provided in sub-section (1), the quantum of leave, which the person employed shall be
entitled to, shall be in accordance with such award, agreement or contract of service but leave shall be
regulated in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) with respect of matters not provided for in
such award, agreement or contract of service:

   Provided further that where the Central Government is satisfied that the leave rules applicable to
persons employed in any mine provide benefits which in its opinion are not less favourable than those
provided for in sub-section (1) it may, by order in writing and subject to such conditions as may be
specified therein exempt the mine from all or any of the provisions of sub-section (1).

                              CHAPTER VIII

                     MAINTENANCE OF REGISTERS, RECORDS AND RETURNS