Page 25 - DMGT306_MERCANTILE_LAWS_II

Mercantile Laws – II

Notes (ii) Weekly and Substituted Holidays

Section 52 speaks of weekly holiday to the workers of a factory. Accordingly an adult worker
shall not be allowed or required to work in a factory on the first day of the week, i.e. Sunday. But
if it becomes necessary to make Sunday a working day, a substituted holiday is made compulsory.
(iii) Compensatory Holidays

Such worker who has been deprived of weekly holiday should be allowed compensatory holidays
of equal number to the holidays so lost within the month in which the holidays were due to him
or within a months immediately following that month.

(iv) Intervals for Rest, Spread Over, Night Shifts and Double Employment

Every adult worker working in a factory is to be allowed rest during working hours of at least
half an hour. This interval is to be so placed as to break the working hours for a maximum of 5
hours at a stretch. This period of 5 hours work can be extended to six hours by the permission of
the State Government or subject to the control of State Government by the Chief Inspector on
sufficient grounds to be recorded in the permission order. (Section 55, 56, 57, 58)

(v) Extra Wages for Overtime

A worker of a factory required to work in excess of the maximum hours of work prescribed
under Section 51 and Section 54 is to be paid extra wages for overtime work done by him.
Therefore a worker required working for more than 9 hours in any day or 48 hours in any week
shall be paid at twice the ordinary rate of wages for the extra hours of work done by him.
Ordinary rate of wages for this purpose shall be the basic wages plus such allowances including
the cash equivalent or the advantage accruing through the concessional sale of food grains and
other articles made available to workers excluding bonus. Further, where any worker in a
factory is employed on a piece rate basis the time rate wages admissible to worker in such jobs
shall be deemed to be equivalent to daily average wages for the piece rated worker.

(vi) Notice of Periods of Work for Adult Workers

A notice in the prescribed form containing an abstract of Act and rules framed there under, the
name and address of Inspector and name and address of Certifying Surgeon is required to be
displayed in the factory. The notice so displayed should indicate the periods of work for which
an adult worker is required to work everyday in a factory. The notice shall be in English
language and a language understood by the majority of workers.

Notes The intention behind the displaying of notice is that no worker is employed to
work in contravention of Section 51, 52, 54, 55, 56 and 58 of the Act.

(vii) Section 66

Act provides for further restrictions on employment of women. Thus no exemption from the
provisions of sec. 54 relative to daily hours of work may be granted in respect of any woman. No
woman shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except between the hours of 6 a.m.
and 7 p.m.; except when the State Govt. varies the limits laid down. So however there is absolute
prohibition on employment of woman between the hours of 10 p.m and 5 a.m.

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