Odisha, Goa go for 12-hour workdays, Karnataka may ease labour norms too

Odisha and Goa relaxed labour laws under the Factories Act of 1948 on Friday and approved 12-hour daily work shifts — four hours more than the current 8 hours — for three months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Both states said the workers would be paid overtime for the extra hours.

Karnataka, too, was planning to do so and said it would work with industry associations and workers’ unions to arrive at amicable solutions on the number of working hours and wage arrears. But workers’ unions in the state, like AICCTU and Intuc, said if it relaxed labour norms, they would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.

The move, which means workers can be asked legally to work four extra hours every day, came after representations from industry bodies and employers’ unions for longer work hours to make up for lost production and restart the economy. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat had already extended daily working hours in the past two days.


Faced with a shortage of workers because of the exodus of migrant workers, Maharashtra’s labour department, in a notification on Wednesday, eased restrictions on the number of working hours till the end of next month. The ceiling on working hours has been relaxed to 12 hours from eight, subject to the condition that workers are paid double for the extra hours as well as a weekly limit of 60 hours and a stipulation that they cannot be allowed to work all seven days.

The CPM-affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions has opposed the move, saying the right to work only eight hours was obtained 130 years ago after a long struggle. Citu’s D L Karad said past experiences show that in small and medium enterprises labourers are never paid double for extra hours. Citu said it will approach the courts. “No worker shall be allowed or required to work in a factory more than 12 hours in any day and 72 hours in any week,” an official notification by the Odisha Labour and Employees’ State Insurance Department said. It added that no worker would work for more than six hours before a half-hour rest.

The Goa government relaxed some provisions of the Factories Act and extended working hours in factories to 12 hours till July-end.