Companies in India may soon have to pay employees twice their normal wages if they work overtime, besides getting written consent from them in advance.
Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar introduced the Code on Occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions 2019 bill in the Lok Sabha last week. The proposal states that "no worker shall be required to work overtime by the employer without prior consent of the worker in writing for such work," reported CNBC, citing Business Standard.
The government scrapped a provision from the existing law which specifies the number of overtime hours a worker can do. Instead, the Centre and state governments will prescribe the period of overtime work they can do.
Further, the report said: Work hours for different classes of establishment and employees will be provided as per the rules prescribed by the central or state government. For overtime work, the worker must be paid twice the rate of daily wages. Female workers, with their consent, may work past 7 pm and before 6 am if approved by the central or state government.
The overtime wage will also include basic pay, dearness allowance and retention pay.