Karnataka’s proposed 10-hour work shifts: What you need to know

Proposed amendment to Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act aims to increase daily working hours, simplify procedures, and benefit IT companies.

The story so far: The Karnataka government has proposed to bring an amendment to the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1961, to increase the daily working hours to 10 from the current nine hours, besides allowing more overtime hours.

The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1961 is a law that governs working hours and labour conditions in shops and commercial establishments in the State. It sets the legal framework for how long employees can work, and how overtime, records, and compliance are handled.

The new amendment aims to simplify procedures like record-keeping and certification, especially for smaller establishments. Supporters of the move believe it will enhance the ease of doing business and legitimise working-hour patterns that are already in practice.

The work hours can be increased to 10 hours a day and 48 hours a week. The total number of hours of work, including overtime, shouldn’t be more than 12 hours a day.

An employee can work overtime for 144 hours in a period of three continuous months. At present, it is 50 hours. Firms with employees fewer than 10 are exempted from this Act.

The biggest beneficiaries of the proposed amendment to this Act will be companies in the Information Technology and Information Technology-Enabled Services (IT & ITES) sectors. These include businesses offering software services, backend IT operations, hardware sales, and similar services. These companies are expected to benefit from the formal extension of working hours and the easing of compliance burdens.

Trade unions argue that the move legalises existing violations and could lead to exploitation of workers, including wage theft, due to poor enforcement mechanisms and staff shortages in the Labour Department.