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Increasing the permissible working hours, allowing women employees to work night shifts, and giving establishments the choice to operate 24×7 throughout the year — these are among the changes being brought by the Odisha government in its effort to boost ease of doing business and create more employment opportunities in the state.
The Odisha Cabinet on Monday approved proposals to amend the Orissa Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1956, and the Factories Act to allow these provisions. After the changes, any commercial or business establishment employing over 20 employees can operate day and night without having to seek special permission, while the daily permissible working hours for employees have been increased from 9 to 10 hours, with a 30-minute break.
“These reforms shall reduce compliance burden on small businesses and provide impetus to entrepreneurs, thus creating more economic activities while ensuring the welfare of employees. It will also enhance employees’ earnings by allowing more overtime work and promote higher work participation opportunities for women in the organised sector and corporate sector,” Chief Minister Mohan Majhi said after the Cabinet meeting.
With the amendments, commercial and business establishments don’t need approval for women employees to work night shifts. As long as the employer meets the conditions set by the state government to ensure safety, a written consent from the employee is sufficient.
“According to the existing conditions, commercial establishments had to apply before us seeking approval to engage women employees (for night shift). We have made it automatic with compliance with certain conditions,” a government official said.
The official said existing provisions were not conducive to ease of doing business and that the amendments were necessary to engage more women in the workforce and to allow businesses to grow.
To ensure the safety of women employees working night shifts, the government has set conditions such as GPS-enabled vehicles to pick up employees from home and drop them back, at least one female security personnel, and adequate lighting at the workplace.
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The overtime work limit has also been increased from 50 to 144 hours over a three-month period. There is also a provision under which any employee who works for more than 10 hours a day or for more than 48 hours a week will be entitled to double the ordinary rate of wages for overtime work.
