Overtime Regulations ~ Interpreting as Curse for Manufacturing sectors
Tonuj Datta
Deputy Manager-Corporate Human Resources | Ex-RIL | MBA - HR from IMED, Pune | B.E. - MIT Manipal
How to spend the idle time? What would you do if you were asked to work overtime? Jump at the opportunity? Protest adamantly? How do you decide if working overtime is worth it?
Let’s dig into :
What is Over Time?
Time worked in addition to one's normal working hours.
Overtime Laws in India
The working hours prescribed under the Factories Act, 1948, under Section 51, employees are not supposed to work for more than 48 hours in a week, and under section 59, for not more than nine hours a day. The time worked in excess of these 48 hours per week and nine hours per day will be counted as overtime under the Act, and will require the employer to pay workers twice the standard wage.
(Section 64) Overtime hours of work in a quarter: The Act permits the state government to make rules related to the regulation of overtime hours of work. However, the total number of hours of overtime must not exceed 50 hours for a quarter. “Quarter” means a period of three consecutive months beginning on the 1st of January, the 1st of April, the 1st of July or the 1st of October.
WHY Over Time?
? Work exigency/emergency/Shutdown
? Reliever on Sanctioned Leave
? Scheduled Gaps
? Break down
? On Sanctioned Restricted Holiday
? Reliever on training program
? Reliever Unauthorized Absent
? Working on Paid Holiday
and many more depending on manpower structure which differs from company to company.
Need for Over Time reduction
? Safety Purpose
? To be at per with law
? Maintaining proper human body cycle
? Better social life for employee
? Cost cutting for the company
Overtime is more of a curse than a blessing to both the employees and the organizations. On the employee part, the employees find their income and purchasing power sharply reduced and their everyday lives altered -- both for better and for worse. For better, the employee will spend more family time together whereas the extra hours will have an adverse effect on his health. On the organization part, looks like the company’s not doing too well at their HR time office, that’s why excessive overtime is persistent. I think the idea is to work because you want to, and not because you have to.