Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - India (Ratification: 1923)

Other comments on C014

Direct Request

2013
2009
1987

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Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee recalls its previous comment regarding the entitlement to weekly rest for workers employed in factories with less than ten employees. The Committee notes the Government’s reference to section 85(1)(i) of the Factories Act, 1948, which provides that a State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that all or any of the provisions of the Act shall apply to any place wherein a manufacturing process is carried on, notwithstanding that the number of persons employed is less than ten. However, as the provision stands, it is at the discretion of the state governments to make use of the permissive provision of section 85(1), and extend the coverage of the weekly rest provisions to factories employing less than ten employees. The Committee therefore requests the Government to specify whether any notifications under section 85 have so far been gazetted and if not, to consider appropriate measures to ensure that weekly rest is granted to all factory employees irrespective of the number of employees. The Committee understands that the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), through an Expert Committee, has recently proposed amendments to the Factories Act. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the current status of the proposed amendments to the Factories Act, and to keep the Office informed of any developments that might have an impact on the workers’ entitlement to weekly rest.

Articles 4 and 5. Total or partial exceptions – Compensatory rest. The Committee notes the list of the state governments that allow for compensatory rest under section 53 of the Factories Act. The Committee also notes that under Section 53(1) of the Factories Act, where workers are deprived of any of their weekly holiday, they shall be allowed, within the calendar month in which the rest periods were due to them, or within the two calendar months next after that month, substituted holidays equal to the number of holidays so lost. The Committee wishes to recall, in this respect, that according to the spirit of the Convention, workers should enjoy a minimum period of rest and leisure at regular weekly, or, in any event, reasonably short, intervals. In this connection, it refers to paragraph 3 of the Weekly rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103), which indicates that persons to whom special weekly rest schemes apply should not work for more than three weeks without receiving the rest periods to which they are entitled. The Committee therefore requests the Government to re-examine the appropriateness of granting accumulated weekly rest – even on an exceptional basis – once every three months and consider the possibility of amending the relevant provision of the Factories Act accordingly.