13 August, 2019
The Government of Telangana has issued notification dated July 25, 2019 (“Notification”) exempting information technology enabled services and information technology establishments (“IT Establishments”) from certain provisions of the Telangana Shops and Establishments Act, 1988 (“Shops Act”) for a period of 5 years, retrospectively from May 30, 2018, subject to them adhering to certain conditions prescribed in the Notification.
IT Establishments have been exempted from the following sections of the Shops Act:
| Section No. | Overview of the provision |
| 15 | Opening and closing hours – Shops and commercial establishments are required to adhere to the opening and closing hours prescribed by the government. |
| 16 | Daily and weekly hours of work – The Shops Act prescribes the maximum number of hours that employees are permitted to work in a day and week, and the maximum hours of overtime that employees can perform. |
| 21 | Work timings for young persons – Young persons are prohibited from working before 6 AM and after 7 PM. |
| 23 | Work timings for women – Women employees are prohibited from working before 6 AM and after 8:30 PM. |
| 31 | Mandatory national and festival holidays – The Shops Act prescribes the mandatory national and festival holidays on which establishments are to grant holidays to employees. |
The exemption is subject to the employer adhering to certain conditions, including:
i. Limit on working hours: Weekly working hours have been fixed at 48 hours. Overtime wages should be paid for any work beyond this limit.
ii. Weekly holiday: Every employee must be given one holiday in a week.
iii. Security and transport for women and young persons: Women and young persons may be engaged in the night shift subject to the employer providing adequate security and transport between their home(s) and office(s). Employers are to conduct pre-employment screening of drivers engaged for the transportation of employees. Employers are also required to ensure that the routes for pick-up and drop are pre-scheduled to ensure no women employees are picked up first or dropped last. To the extent possible, the employer should provide security guards for vehicles dropping employees in the night shift and such vehicles should have GPRS facilities.
iv. Compensatory holiday: Every employee who is made to work on a mandatory national or festival holiday should be given a compensatory holiday.
The Notification also provides a general exemption from maintenance of physical copies of statutory registers and recognises maintaining soft copies of registers as adequate compliance.
The Notification further stipulates that the exemption may be revoked at any time without prior notice if any of the above conditions are violated.
For further information, please contact:
Zia Mody, Partner, AZB & Partners
zia.mody@azbpartners.com
