Working hours, holidays and weekly off/weekly holidays are largely guided by three statutes in India for private establishments.
a) The Factories Act 1948 and rules framed by the respective State.
b) Shops & Establishment Act of the respective State.
c) National and Festival Holidays of the respective State.
In addition to the above, there are certain specific non-standard workers like motor transport, interstate migrant, contract labour, beedi workers, mathadis, hamals, manual workers, private security guards, construction workers, workers in catering establishments etc. There are both Central and State enactments to deal with the working conditions of these types of special non-standard workers. These statutes also contain provisions related to weekly off and compensatory holidays. The focus of this article will only be the first three enactments considering the larger organised workers.
Before we get into the statutory provisions, let us briefly examine the industry practices currently in India on compensatory holidays.
a) The...
