Overtime Compensation

In accordance with the Factories Act 1948, normal working hours are 9 hours per day and 48 hours per week. Working hours for young workers are 4.5 hours per day.

Adult workers may be required to work beyond the stipulated working hours, i.e., 9 hours a day and 48 hours a week. The compensation for overtime work is twice the regular rate of his ordinary pay (200% of the regular wage rate). The ordinary rate of wages includes the basic wages plus such allowances, including the cash equivalent of the advantage accruing through the concessional sale to workers of food grains and other articles, as the worker is for the time being entitled to, but does not include a bonus and wages for overtime work.

The periods of work must be fixed in such a way that no period should exceed five hours (exemption can be granted to extend this period to 6 hours). A worker must get a rest interval of at least half an hour (30 minutes) after at most five hours of work. The total spread over (of working hours) inclusive of rest breaks and overtime cannot exceed ten and a half hours in any day. This means that an overtime of 2 hours is allowed per day. The Chief Inspector is authorized to extend this spread over, for reasons specified in writing, to 12 hours.

An employee may not be required to work overtime on short notice without prior intimation. Period of work, fixed in accordance with the provisions of Act, should be properly notified and displayed in the factory. Any proposed change should be notified to the Inspector, before the change is made.

In line with the Wage Code, the central or state government may fix the number of working hours that constitute a normal working day. Where a worker works in excess of a normal working day, he is entitled to overtime wage, which must be at least 200% of the normal wage rate.

The Code on Wages Bill, 2019 was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 30, 2019 and Rajya Sabha on 02 August 2019.

The Wage Code regulates wage and bonus payments in all employment. The Code combines the provision of the following four laws: (i) the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, (ii) the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, (iii) the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, and (iv) the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. The Wage Code repeals the above 4 laws.

Source: §51-63 of Factories Act 1948

Non-Standard Workers' Rights on Working Hours and Overtime - Platform Workers

Working hours are regulated for employees. Since, independent contractors, i.e., platform workers are not considered employees, the working hours' restriction are not applicable to them.



Uber requires its drivers to take an uninterrupted 6-hour break after every 12 hours of time spent driving. Driving time is from the time a driver confirms the trip request and start driving to the pickup, to when you complete the trip. If a driver is online and stationary, for example waiting for a request, driving around the city without a passenger, or sitting in an airport queue, this time is not included into the 12 hours of driving time.

In the event of bad weather as well as rush hours, demand for rides increases. In such cases, fares increase. This is referred to as surge pricing. Fares are updated based on the demand in real-time. Uber drivers or partners are shown this high demand through a changed colour map indicating demand originating from those areas. Surge rates are charged as a multiplier of X. The surge multiplier generally lies between 1 to 2. In the case of surge pricing with a multiplier of 1.5, the normal fare was 100 rupees rises to 150 rupees. The actual payout to the worker increases in this case.