Section 52- Weekly Holidays - Docx Download

Weekly Holidays state that no adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in a factory on the first day of the week (Sunday), unless he has or will have a holiday for a whole day on one of the three days immediately before or after the said day. Provided that no substitution shall be made which will result in any worker working for more than ten days consecutively without a holiday for a whole day.

Now, suppose we consider the first Sunday as off. The worker works on M(1), T(2), Wed(3), Thu(4), Fri(5), Sat(6), Sunday(7), M(8), Tue(9), HOLIDAY(10) (substituted holiday). The last substituted holiday constitutes a total of 10 days. Then, why is it being stated in the proviso above that no substitution should result in more than ten days of working? It is already defined that a weekly holiday and three days before or after the said day are available for substitution. How can a substitution be made for more than 10 days, resulting in more than 10 days of working? Kindly illustrate with an example.

Regards,
Vikas

Dear Vikas, there is no substitution allowed beyond 10 days. In emergent situations, you can defer or prepone the weekly off by three days by giving intimation to the labor department.

Dear Vikas,

If my understanding of Sec. 52 of the Factories Act, 1948 is holistic and hence correct, I wish to point out that your interpretation of the section gets either diffused or distracted because of the word "substitution" employed in the rider clause to the section. Let's analyze the section in the seriatim of its subsections with your own illustration so that we can reach a clear-cut understanding of the section in its entirety.

(1) Normally, no adult worker shall be allowed or asked to work on the first day of the week, i.e., Sunday or "the said day" [sec. 52(1)].

(2) However, he can be allowed or asked to work on "the said day," i.e., Sunday provided that EITHER he was given a holiday of a whole day in the immediately preceding Saturday (3) or Friday (2) or Thursday (1) OR he will be given a day's holiday in the succeeding Monday (1) or Tuesday (2) or Wednesday (3) [clause a of ss (1) of sec. 52].

(3) The above requirement is subject to the delivery of a notice containing the particulars of "the said day" and the day of the substituted holiday in lieu thereof to the Factories Inspector AND display of the same in the factory [sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of Clause (b) of sec. 52(1)].

(4) Again, the proviso to Sec. 52(1) imposes a restriction that the substitution shall not result in more than 10 consecutive working days without a holiday. The stretch of consecutive working days commences from the next day after the last weekly holiday allowed to the worker and ends up with the day just before the substituted holiday inclusive of "the said day" for which substitution is made.

Now, coming to your illustration, M(1) to T(9) is the stretch of consecutive working days inclusive of "the said day" (S7) for which holiday is allowed on the 10th day. M1 to T9 comprises only 9 consecutive working days. It is true that prior to S7, he works on all six days continuously without a holiday; but it is actually true that on the succeeding Wednesday (the 10th day after the stretch of consecutive working days and the 3rd day after S7) he gets a holiday.

Respected Umakanthan Sir,

As quoted by you, "The stretch of consecutive working days commences from the next day after the last weekly holiday allowed to the worker and ends up with the day just before the substituted holiday inclusive of 'the said day' for which substitution is made."

a) If the substituted holiday is before the said day - TH, FRI, SAT (SUN - SAID DAY)

b) If the substituted holiday is after the said day - (SUN - SAID DAY) MON, TUE, WED

Now, in case a), if he takes a substituted day, suppose on Thursday, and works on Sunday, then he will be having leave again on Thursday (counting from Friday) (correct me if I am wrong), and the same is the case with b), where he takes leave on any three days after the said day.

So, if section 52 restricts [clause a of ss (1) of sec.52] by saying that three days before and three days after the said day substitution can be taken, then how come the proviso says that "no working for more than 10 days," when already a restriction has been imposed where more than ten days of working is not possible.

My query may be a bit out of the way, but I am confused about the "more than 10 days working" proviso as to its existence when more than ten days of working is not possible (as per section).

Regards,

Vikas

Dear Vikas,

The Factories Act is an establishment-related enactment with the primary objective of regulating employment therein. Certain manufacturing activities are of such a continuous nature that the factory has to be run on a 24 x 7 basis. In such cases, the engagement of labor has to be on a shift basis, which again has to be on rotation of the entire labor among the shifts. Therefore, a weekly off cannot be granted regularly on a particular day of the week. As a result of this practical bottleneck, the adherence to the principle of "6 days of continuous work followed by the 7th day of rest" may not be possible at times. Hence, a restriction has to be in place to regulate the relaxations one way or the other.

Thank you.

Respected Sir,

Thank you very much, sir, for clearing my doubts regarding the weekly holiday proviso. Now I understand that it is a continuous process, and shifts affect the implementation of the 6-day working week, bringing the proviso to light.

Sir, could you please shed some light on shift working? How does the shift working process take place? In some locations, there are three shifts, in others four, and then there is a general shift. Each defined period is called a shift, and sets of workers are designated as a relay. However, I am not familiar with the process of how it is all carried out.

Regards,
Vikas

Dear Vikas,

Continuous Process Industries have a spot for every location that needs monitoring. Every spot is manned 24 hours, 7 days a week. Suppose there are ten spots that are to be covered in a plant in every shift. The manpower planning is done as three and a half persons per spot. Since there cannot be half a person, it is fixed as 4 persons per spot. The fourth person is referred to as a reliever.

The people who attend round-the-clock shifts are divided into groups, let's say A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The people in group A will have a weekly off on Monday, group B on Tuesday, group C on Wednesday, and so on. Each group from A to G will consist of 5 persons. The groups are combined in a pattern such as A and D, B and E, C and F, and so on. Consequently, the rotating shift workers get a weekly off after every six days. The reliever may work in the general shift for three days a week.

A shift schedule is drawn following a cyclic pattern.

V. Raghunathan

Respected Raghunathan Sir,

Thank you for providing information regarding shifts. Sir, with all due respect, could you please provide more information on your statement, "The manpower planning is done as three and a half persons per spot. Since there cannot be half a person, it is fixed as 4 persons per spot." Is there a calculation of the total number of persons involved on any given day to achieve the three and a half person spot?

Secondly, group combinations are arranged in a pattern so that they receive a weekly off (please correct me if I am wrong, sir). Is the general shift for administrative staff or is it related to workers' shifts? Are all shifts divided into time slots of 8 hours? Do these 8 hours include a lunch break? What about those who work during the night and have had dinner at home? Is any break still given after working for five hours?

Sir, I would be highly grateful if you could provide more details regarding shifts in the manufacturing process.

Regards,
Vikas

Let's say a company fixes the weekly off as Sunday for shift A group. A worker will work on Sunday and get off on the next Wednesday. He should get the weekly off again on the coming Sunday unless it is adjusted again.

According to the clarifications made above, consecutive days should not be more than 10. In any case, the 10th day will be the off day. There need not be any specific restriction regarding that, if I am correct.

Anyhow, how unethical employers would have exploited their workers if the 10-day restriction had not been there? Respected seniors, kindly clarify my confusion.

Mr. Vikas,

I have attached a shift schedule with two spreadsheets, one below the other in a Word document. One shows details for one spot, and the other shows details for two spots. After going through this attached file, I hope you will gain clarity.

@ Mr. Radhakrishnan,

There is a practice by which you can give a weekly off after the fourth day and before the tenth day. You need not always wait for six days. This is to adjust the shift schedule. This range of four to ten days provides flexibility between one off and another off. It is done once in a while and not every week.

V. Raghunathan