10-hour workdays allowed in Telangana for commercial establishments: Overtime pay for anything beyond 48 hours/week; work hours in factories likely to increase too | Hyderabad News
HYDERABAD: The Telangana govt on Saturday issued orders allowing commercial establishments (excluding shops) to increase working hours for employees from the present eight hours to 10 hours, but with a rider.The order issued by labour department principal secretary M Dana Kishore states the maximum limit of working hours in a week shall not exceed the present 48 hours. This would mean that if hotels, IT and ITes firms, make an employee work 10 hours in the early part of the week, then the working hours would have to be reduced for the rest of the week. For work done beyond 48 hours, the employee would be entitled to overtime wages.
The orders will come into effect once the gazette is published on July 8. Sources said the state govt is also contemplating increasing the working hours in factories.Labour department officials told STOI that many states were contemplating making the change following a directive from the Centre to promote ease of doing business. Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh had increased the working hours from nine to 10 last month.The order also states no employee shall be required or allowed to work for more than six hours at a stretch unless he or she has an interval for rest of not less than 30 minutes. However, the state govt has made it clear that the periods of work of an employee in an establishment should be arranged so that, along with his or her interval, the working hours should not exceed more than 12 hours on any day.Any employee may be required or allowed to work in an establishment for any period in excess of the 48 hours per week on payment of overtime wages, subject to a maximum period of 144 hours in any quarter of the year. “If the above conditions are violated, the exemption orders issued to the company shall be revoked by the govt at any time without prior notice,” the order states.
