As per the bill, women can work between 7 pm to 6 am, but it is subject to a list of safeguards
Bengaluru:
The Karnataka Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill amending the Factories Act to allow women to work night shifts in factories.
It also allows employees who work 12 hours a day for four consecutive days to take three days off in a week.
The Factories (Karnataka Amendment) Bill was passed without any debate in the Assembly.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister JC Madhuswamy said, “Working hours for women were limited and the government, including the software industry, was under pressure to relax it.”
Even the High Court had directed that equal opportunity should be provided to all under Article 14 of the Constitution.
In 2020, the government allowed women to work in night shifts in hotels, restaurants, cafes, theaters and other such shops and establishments.
As per the bill, it allows the government to increase the daily working hours from 9 to 12, but not more than 48 hours in a week. This will generate more economic activities and employment opportunities, it said.
“We are increasing the working hours to 12 hours a day. Those who work continuously for 12 hours for four days, which does not exceed 48 hours, can take leave for three days,” the minister said.
As per the bill, women can work between 7 pm to 6 am, but this is subject to a list of safeguards that are required to be put in place by the employers.
It states that it shall be the duty of the employer or other responsible persons at the workplace to prevent or prevent acts of sexual harassment.
It also requires employers to provide transport facilities to women workers to and from home during night shifts, and prescribes transport vehicles to be equipped with CCTVs and GPS.
The Bill which will now go to the Legislative Council for passage, further states that employers must ensure that there are suitable working conditions for women and that no employee shall have reasonable grounds to believe that he or she is deprived of employment.
Women workers should be employed in batches of at least 10, factories should have proper lighting and CCTV coverage, whose footage should be stored for not less than 45 days, are among the measures mentioned in the Bill.
The Bill also allows the government to fix working hours for overtime duty, during which the employees are to be paid wages at twice the normal rate of wages.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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