Section 25: Daily and weekly working hours, leave, etc.

Finin2min analysis — what the section actually does

Full statutory text — Section 25

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).

How to apply this provision

1. Primary statutory test — (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:
2. Additional operative limb — 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;
3. Qualification / exception to test — 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…
4. Numerical or timing control — 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…
5. Central Rule mapping — 64, 65, 66. Read the mapped provision together with this text rather than treating the concordance as a substitute for it.
6. Prescribed-form link recorded in the corpus — XII. Confirm the current notified form/version before filing.

Rules, forms and cross-references

A direct concordance is not exhaustive. Central/State jurisdiction, schemes, authority appointments, saved instruments and later notifications may change the practical route without changing the section wording.

Worked example

Q&A — Section 25

Source & verification trail