New labour codes working hours in India: the 8-hour day, 48-hour week, overtime, weekly rest, shift records and night-work rules employers must follow.

Getting new labour codes working hours wrong can create an immediate wage liability: overtime is generally payable at twice the normal rate after eight hours in a day or 48 hours in a week. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 also carries a general penalty of ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh under Section 94 where no specific penalty applies. One bad roster can become a payroll, inspection and employee-relations problem at the same time.

The four labour codes took effect on 21 November 2025, and the Central Government notified final Central Rules in May 2026. This guide explains the practical 2026 position for Indian employers: who is covered, when overtime starts, what records prove compliance, and why state rules still matter.

What Changed in Working-Hour Compliance After November 2025?

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, commonly called the OSH Code, consolidated 13 central laws including the Factories Act, 1948. Its working-hours chapter now provides the common framework for daily hours, weekly holidays, overtime, night shifts, overlapping shifts and work-period notices.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment’s implementation announcement confirms that the four labour codes became effective on 21 November 2025. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified on 8 May 2026 for establishments where the Central Government is the appropriate government.

That last phrase matters. Most factories are administered by the state factory or labour department, so state OSH rules may prescribe shift conditions, overtime ceilings, forms and approvals. Central rules are a baseline, not a substitute for checking each plant’s state.

For management, the operational change is simple: an appointment letter, attendance system and payroll engine must agree with the displayed roster and the hours actually worked. A policy PDF that says “eight hours” proves little if gate logs show ten-hour shifts and payroll shows no overtime.

Who Is Covered by the New Labour Codes Working Hours Rules?

Section 2(1)(w) of the OSH Code defines a factory broadly as premises where a manufacturing process is carried on with 20 or more workers when power is used, or 40 or more workers when power is not used. The appropriate government can apply factory provisions to some premises below those numbers.

Do not read those thresholds as permission to ignore safety below 20 or 40 workers. The Ministry’s OSH Code FAQ explains that health, safety and welfare protections generally extend to establishments with 10 or more employees. Section 3 also requires an establishment employing 10 or more employees to apply for registration within 60 days of coming into existence, according to the Ministry’s Compliance Handbook for Employers.

Working-hour entitlements are framed around a “worker,” a defined legal category, rather than everyone on payroll. It covers manual, skilled, technical, operational, clerical and certain supervisory work, subject to exclusions. A title such as “executive” does not settle the issue. Review real duties, authority and wage position under Section 2(1)(zzl) before excluding anyone.

Contract labour cannot simply disappear from the calculation. Keep contractor attendance and deployment records connected to the principal employer’s access logs and shift plan. If a contractor submits an eight-hour muster roll but the same person’s gate record shows 11 hours, the inconsistency will be obvious during an audit.

Is the Legal Limit Eight Hours a Day or 48 Hours a Week?

Both limits matter. The Ministry’s official FAQ states that the standard is eight hours per day and 48 hours per week. Rule 5 of the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 also treats eight hours as the normal working day for a daily-rated employee and caps the normal week at 48 hours for other wage periods.

Section 25 of the OSH Code authorises the appropriate government to prescribe daily working hours and rest intervals. This is why a headline claiming that the labour codes created a universal 12-hour ordinary shift is misleading. A government may permit flexibility in the spread of a shift or in specified circumstances, but hours beyond the overtime trigger do not magically become ordinary-rate hours.

Use these controls when designing a roster:

  1. Set ordinary work at no more than eight hours a day and 48 hours a week unless a valid rule or exemption says otherwise.
  2. Put the meal or rest interval into the roster; do not rely on an unwritten shop-floor practice.
  3. Check the maximum “spread-over,” meaning the total span from reporting time to release time including rest breaks, under the applicable state rule.
  4. Prevent a worker from being scheduled in two factories or mines within the preceding 12 hours, subject to prescribed exceptions, as required by Section 30.
  5. Test both the daily and weekly overtime triggers. Use whichever computation is more favourable to the worker, as Section 27 requires.

Example: Meena works nine hours on Monday and seven hours on each of the next five days. Her week totals 44 hours, but the ninth Monday hour still crosses the daily eight-hour trigger. A weekly total below 48 does not erase daily overtime.

How Must Overtime Be Calculated and Paid?

Section 27 of the OSH Code requires overtime wages at twice the rate of wages when a worker exceeds the prescribed daily or weekly hours. Worker consent is required for overtime. The Ministry’s 2026 labour-code FAQ further confirms that work beyond eight hours in a day for a daily wager, or beyond 48 hours in a week, earns twice the normal rate and must be paid at the end of the wage period.

For establishments governed by the Central Rules, Rule 62 provides practical calculation instructions:

The applicable state rule may prescribe a quarterly overtime ceiling or a different approval process. Do not copy a cap from another state or from an old Factories Act register. Record the legal source beside the cap in your compliance calendar.

Payroll should reconcile the approved roster, biometric or gate attendance, supervisor-approved overtime and wage register every wage period. Investigate exceptions before payroll closes. Adjusting gate times to fit the roster is not reconciliation; it is evidence destruction with extra steps.

What Shift and Attendance Records Must an Employer Keep?

Section 31 of the OSH Code requires every establishment to display and correctly maintain a notice showing the periods during which workers may be required to work. A proposed change that requires the notice to change must be communicated to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator before implementation. Unless prior sanction is obtained, the section prevents another such change until one week has passed after the previous change.

For central-sphere establishments, Rule 71 requires the notice to be displayed conspicuously on a physical or electronic board, maintained in Form XII, and sent to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator electronically or by speed post. Rule 72 requires:

Your evidence pack should also contain overtime consent, weekly-rest substitutions, compensatory-holiday records, shift-change approvals, contractor deployment sheets and payroll calculations. Keep version history. If the roster was changed on 12 August, an auditor should be able to see who approved it, when workers were informed and which notice was displayed.

Attendance software does not make the record correct. Test for missed punches, badge sharing, manual overrides, work after clock-out and contractor data that never reaches payroll. The control is real only when an exception creates a review.

Can Women Work Night Shifts Under the New Rules?

Yes. Section 43 of the OSH Code permits women to work in all establishments and all types of work, including before 6 a.m. and after 7 p.m., subject to their consent and prescribed safeguards.

For central-sphere establishments, Rule 83 of the 2026 Central Rules requires written consent; residence-to-workplace pick-up and drop; well-lit entrances, exits and routes to toilets, washrooms and drinking water; suitable CCTV coverage; emergency phone numbers displayed at the workplace and in vehicles; safe working conditions; and compliance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

Consent must be genuine. Keep it separate from a blanket appointment-letter clause, allow the worker to decline, and do not treat refusal as misconduct. A night-shift file should connect each worker’s consent to the roster, vehicle number, driver, route, trip log and emergency escalation record.

State rules may add conditions such as minimum staffing, security personnel, transport specifications or prior intimation. A national company therefore needs a state-by-state control matrix, not one night-shift memo copied to every plant.

What Weekly Rest and Leave Rules Affect Shift Planning?

Section 26 of the OSH Code says a worker should not work more than six days in a week. If an exemption deprives a worker of the weekly holiday, equal compensatory holidays must be given within the month in which they were due or within the following two months.

Section 28 deals with shifts extending beyond midnight. The worker’s 24-hour weekly holiday begins when that shift ends, and post-midnight hours count toward the previous day. Configure timekeeping accordingly; otherwise the same night hours may be allocated to the wrong daily limit.

Section 32 provides annual leave with wages after a worker has worked 180 days or more in a calendar year. An adult generally earns one day of leave for every 20 days worked; an adolescent earns one for every 15 days. Up to 30 days may ordinarily be carried forward, while leave applied for but refused can receive different treatment under the section.

These rules belong in capacity planning. If production targets assume seven consecutive days indefinitely or ignore accrued leave, supervisors will create unlawful overtime to meet a forecast that was impossible from day one.

A 10-Point Working-Hours Audit for Indian Employers

Run this check for every legal entity and every location:

  1. Map jurisdiction: identify whether the Central Government or the state is the appropriate government for the establishment.
  2. Confirm coverage: count employees, workers, contract labour and shift-wise deployment; document the factory and establishment thresholds.
  3. Check the legal register: record the OSH Code sections, applicable Central or state rules, notifications, exemptions and expiry dates.
  4. Test rosters: verify eight ordinary hours a day, 48 a week, rest intervals, spread-over and weekly holidays.
  5. Recalculate overtime: sample at least two wage periods and compare daily versus weekly triggers using the worker-favourable result.
  6. Verify consent: retain worker consent for overtime and written consent plus safeguards for women working at night.
  7. Reconcile evidence: match Form XII or the state equivalent to attendance, gate logs, production logs, contractor muster rolls and payroll.
  8. Review changes: prove that roster changes were displayed, communicated and sent to the inspector where required.
  9. Test leave: verify the 180-day eligibility calculation, accrual, carry-forward, refusals and encashment.
  10. Assign owners: give HR, plant operations, payroll and EHS named responsibilities with monthly evidence deadlines.

Store the result as an obligation register: requirement, legal source, applicability, frequency, owner, evidence link, last completion and next due date. A spreadsheet can work for one plant. Once several states, contractors and shift patterns enter the picture, automated reminders and change tracking become far less fragile.

What Are the Penalties for Getting Working Hours Wrong?

Section 94 of the OSH Code provides a general penalty of not less than ₹2 lakh and up to ₹3 lakh where the Code, rules, standards or a written order are contravened and no other specific punishment applies. A continuing contravention after conviction can attract up to ₹2,000 for each day it continues.

Section 96 separately addresses missing registers, records and returns. Failure to maintain or file a required record, or to produce it, can attract ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh. A repeat conviction under the same provision can attract ₹50,000 to ₹2 lakh.

The wage shortfall itself also remains payable. Add interest, employee claims, inspection time, production disruption and management attention, and “we will fix the register later” becomes an expensive operating philosophy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the new labour codes legalise a 12-hour workday without overtime?

No. The official Ministry FAQ states an eight-hour day and 48-hour week as the standard. Flexibility in daily scheduling does not remove overtime at twice the rate beyond the applicable trigger. Check the relevant state rule for spread-over and overtime ceilings.

Is overtime due only after 48 hours in a week?

No. Section 27 requires daily or weekly calculation, whichever is more favourable to the worker. Crossing eight hours on one day can create overtime even when the weekly total remains below 48.

Can an employee refuse overtime?

Section 27 makes worker consent a condition for requiring overtime. Document the request and consent; do not rely on a permanent blanket clause that ignores the actual shift.

Does the eight-hour rule apply to managers?

Not automatically. Working-hour provisions use the defined term “worker.” Classification depends on actual duties, authority and statutory exclusions, not the job title printed on an ID card. Review Section 2(1)(zzl) and the applicable rules before excluding anyone.

Can women work after 7 p.m. in a factory?

Yes, with consent and prescribed safeguards. Central Rule 83 requires written consent, transport, lighting, sanitation access, CCTV, emergency contacts and safe conditions for central-sphere establishments. State rules can add further conditions.

Which records should be ready during an inspection?

Keep the displayed notice of work periods, employee register, attendance or muster roll, wage and overtime register, consent records, weekly-rest substitutions, leave records, shift-change communication and contractor attendance. Use the applicable Central or state forms.

Turn the Rule Into a Control, Not Another PDF

New labour codes working hours compliance is not solved by changing “nine” to “eight” in an HR policy. The roster, attendance trail, overtime consent, wage calculation, weekly rest and inspector-facing records must tell the same story for every worker and every shift.

Start with one month of gate and payroll data. Recalculate overtime, flag every day above eight hours, check every week above 48, and trace each exception to consent and payment. Then repeat the control monthly and whenever a state changes its rules.

Check your compliance posture free at complianceradar.in. Describe your business once to identify the central, state and local obligations that apply, build a timeline, and receive alerts when the rules change.