Night Shifts, Overlapping Shifts and Double Employment

Take the two clauses in turn, because both are examinable and they do different jobs.

Clause (a) fixes the holiday. His weekly holiday is a full twenty-four hours from the end of his shift, not from midnight. A worker who finishes at 6 a.m. on Sunday has his holiday until 6 a.m. on Monday. Without this clause, half his holiday would have been consumed by the shift he had just finished.

Clause (b) fixes the day, and the last words are the key. His "following day" begins when the shift ends, and the hours he worked after midnight count in the previous day. So a worker who works 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. has worked eight hours in one day, not two in one day and six in the next. Without that, six of his hours would sit in a fresh day and he could be worked two more that day within the section 25 limit.

Section 29: prohibition of overlapping shifts

Section 29(1). Work shall not be carried on in any establishment by means of a system of shifts so arranged that more than one relay of workers is engaged in work of the same kind at the same time.

Section 29(2), exemption. The appropriate Government, or, subject to its approval, the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator, may by written order and for reasons specified in it, exempt on such conditions as are deemed expedient any establishment, class of establishments, department or section, or category or description of workers, from sub-section (1).

The proviso. Sub-section (2) shall not apply to mines.

Read the proviso carefully, because it is easy to get backwards. It attaches to sub-section (2), the exemption power, not to sub-section (1). So the prohibition applies to mines and the exemption is not available for them. Mines are held to the stricter rule.

Note also the safeguards on the exemption: it must be in writing, must state reasons, and where the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator grants it, it needs the approval of the appropriate Government.

Section 30: restriction on double employment

No worker shall be required or allowed to work in a mine or factory if he has already been working in any other such similar establishment within the preceding twelve hours, save in such circumstances as the appropriate Government prescribes.

Four points, and each can carry a question.

It is confined to a mine or factory. Section 30 does not reach an ordinary establishment, a shop or a construction site.

It looks back twelve hours, not to a calendar day.

"Required or allowed" again. The second employer breaches the section by permitting the work, not only by ordering it.

"Any other such similar establishment" means the twelve hour bar operates between a mine and a mine, or a factory and a factory. The words are the Code's own.

The practical difficulty is obvious and worth stating in an answer: the second employer must know that the worker has been working elsewhere. The Code gives him no mechanism to find out, so section 30 in practice binds a worker who declares the first job and an employer who knows of it.

A worked example

Rakesh works at a steel rolling mill on a shift from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

How many hours has he worked, and in which day? Eight hours, all counted in the previous day, because section 28(b) requires the hours worked after midnight to be counted in the previous day.

When does his next day begin? At 6 a.m., when the shift ends: section 28(b).

Could the mill work him again at 2 p.m. that afternoon? Not without breaching section 25(1), because his eight hours are already used in the previous day, and section 28(b) prevents the post-midnight hours from being treated as a fresh day's work.

His weekly holiday falls on Sunday and his shift ends at 6 a.m. on Sunday. His weekly holiday for a whole day is twenty-four consecutive hours beginning when his shift ends, that is from 6 a.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday: section 28(a).

The mill runs two relays of rollers at the same time on the same line to raise output. That is prohibited: section 29(1) forbids a system of shifts so arranged that more than one relay is engaged in work of the same kind at the same time.

The mill applies for an exemption. The appropriate Government, or the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator subject to its approval, may grant one by written order stating reasons, on such conditions as are deemed expedient: section 29(2).

Had this been a coal mine? No exemption is available. The proviso to section 29(2) provides that the exemption sub-section shall not apply to mines, so the prohibition in section 29(1) stands absolutely.

Rakesh finishes at 6 a.m. and takes a second job at another factory starting at 2 p.m. the same day. That is within the preceding twelve hours, so section 30 forbids the second factory from requiring or allowing him to work, save in circumstances prescribed by the appropriate Government.

Had the second job begun at 8 p.m.? More than twelve hours have passed since 6 a.m., so section 30 does not bite. The eight hour limit at the second factory applies on its own footing.

Had the second job been on a building site? Section 30 is confined to a mine or factory, so it would not apply, though the second employer's own duties under sections 25 and 26 would.

What this does NOT mean

Section 28 does not shorten the working day. It fixes when the day begins and where the post-midnight hours are counted.

Section 29 does not forbid shift working. It forbids overlapping relays doing work of the same kind at the same time.

The proviso to section 29(2) does not exempt mines from the prohibition. It removes the exemption power in their case, which makes the rule stricter for mines, not looser.

Section 30 does not forbid all second jobs. It applies to a mine or factory where the worker has been working in any other such similar establishment within the preceding twelve hours.

Limits and criticism

Section 30 is unenforceable in practice without a mechanism for the second employer to discover the first employment, and the Code provides none.

"Any other such similar establishment" is undefined, so whether a factory and a mine are similar establishments for the purposes of the twelve hour bar is not settled by the words.

The exemption in section 29(2) has no outer limit. It may be granted on such conditions as are deemed expedient, for any establishment or class, with no maximum period stated.

Section 28 does not address the health effects of night work at all, which are dealt with, if anywhere, through the standards under section 18.

Quick revision

• Section 28, shift extending beyond midnight: (a) the weekly holiday for a whole day is twenty-four consecutive hours beginning when his shift ends; (b) the following day begins when the shift ends, and the hours worked after midnight are counted in the previous day.
• Section 29(1): no system of shifts under which more than one relay is engaged in work of the same kind at the same time. Section 29(2): exemption by the appropriate Government, or by the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator with its approval, by written order stating reasons. Proviso: sub-section (2) does not apply to mines.
• Section 30: no worker to be required or allowed to work in a mine or factory if he has already been working in any other such similar establishment within the preceding twelve hours, save in prescribed circumstances.

Test yourself

1. A worker's shift runs from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. In which day are the hours after midnight counted? In the previous day: section 28(b). His following day is deemed to begin at 6 a.m., when the shift ends.

2. When does his weekly holiday begin? For the purposes of section 26, a weekly holiday for a whole day means a period of twenty-four consecutive hours beginning when his shift ends: section 28(a).

3. What does section 29 prohibit? Carrying on work by means of a system of shifts so arranged that more than one relay of workers is engaged in work of the same kind at the same time.

4. Can a mine be exempted from that prohibition? No. The proviso to section 29(2) provides that the exemption sub-section shall not apply to mines, so the prohibition in section 29(1) applies to them without the possibility of exemption.

5. Who may grant an exemption under section 29(2), and how? The appropriate Government, or, subject to its approval, the Chief Inspector-cum-Facilitator, by written order and for the reasons specified in it, on such conditions as are deemed expedient.

6. A worker leaves a factory at 7 a.m. and reports to another factory at 4 p.m. the same day. Is that lawful? No, unless the circumstances are among those prescribed by the appropriate Government. Section 30 forbids a worker from being required or allowed to work in a factory if he has already been working in any other such similar establishment within the preceding twelve hours, and only nine hours have passed.