PANAJI
In what comes as a relief to factory owners and boost to production, the Labour Department has relaxed certain provisions of the Factories Act to extend the working hours from 8 to 12, mostly as a solution to the dearth of workers in the time of the pandemic.
This relaxation will be applicable till September 30, 2021.
Restrictions on the movement of workers in the wake of the pandemic have led to a shortage of workers. This relaxation will enable the factories to deal with this exceptional crisis.
This relaxation has been given under the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 65 of the
Factories Act.
The order published in the official gazette recently states, “Goa hereby exempts all of the adult workers working in all of the factories situated in the State of Goa, who are not holding positions of supervision or management and/or not employed in a confidential position within the meaning of subsection (1) of Section 64 of the said Act, from the provisions of Sections 51, 52, 54 and 56 of the said Act, for a period up to 30th September 2021 with effect from the date of publication of this Order in the Official Gazette.”
As per the new order, the total number of hours of work in any day
shall not exceed twelve and the total number of hours of work in any week, including overtime, shall not exceed 60.
It also states that no worker shall be allowed to work overtime for more than seven days at a stretch and the total number of hours of overtime work in any quarter shall not exceed 75.
