The Government of Karnataka has introduced the Factories (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2023 dated 22-02-2023. Some of the key features of the amendments to the Factories Act are:
- 4-day work week increasing the number of hours of work from the existing nine hours up to twelve hours inclusive of rest intervals in any day subject to a maximum of 48 hours in any week subject to the written consent of such worker for such work, and the remaining days of the said week for the worker shall be paid holidays.
- 6 hours of work without interval extending the total number of hours of work
by a worker without an interval to six hours to any group or class or description
of factories to facilitate the increase in the daily maximum hours of work due to
provisions of flexibility in working hours.
- Women allowed to work at night and work overtime
- Overtime payable for 6 day work week, 5 day work week and 4 day work
week
- Overtime hours per quarter extended from seventy-five hours to one hundred
and forty-four hours to allow factories to engage workers on overtime for an
increased period of time in a quarter
The Bill to amend provisions of the Factories Act has been passed by the Legislative
Assembly and is yet to be passed by the Legislative Council. After the Bill is passed by both Houses of State Legislatures it will become an Act after receiving assent of the Governor or after the assent of President of India is received.
A copy of the Gazette Notification dated 22-02-2023 with details of amendments is
attached.