Is a 90-hour work week legal in India? Are corporate employees entitled to overtime pay?

Is a 90-hour work week legal in India? Are corporate employees entitled to overtime pay? | Explained

CNBC TV 18| 10th January 2025

90 hour work week row: Factory workers, or wage workers, essentially those in blue-collar jobs, often work extra hours and get paid for it additionally. However, that’s not usually the case for ‘salaried’ white collar employees.

Several India Inc leaders, including veterans like Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and startup founders like Ola Electric’s Bhavish Aggarwal, have advocated for long working hours to accelerate India’s growth. The latest to join this list is Larsen & Toubro (L&T) chairman SN Subrahmanyan, who has suggested a 90-hour workweek and expressed a desire for employees to work on Sundays as well.

Varsha Kripalani, Partner and Head of Human Resource and Industrial Law Practice at SNG and Partners, cited Section 8 of the Delhi Shops and Establishment Act, which mandates that no employee should work more than nine hours a day or 48 hours a week. However, she noted, “There are provisions allowing state governments to exempt specific shops and establishments from the purview of Section 8.”

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