1. Working Hours, Overtime, and Leave Structures

 1. Working Hours, Overtime, and Leave Structures

• Daily Work Hour Flexibility: The OSHWC Code retains the standard 8-hour workday but provides flexibility to modify daily working hours up to 12 hours, provided the overall weekly cap of 48 hours is strictly maintained. The Factories Act, 1948, had a rigid ceiling of 9 hours per day.
• Extended Spread-over Limits: The maximum spread-over period (the total time a worker is at the workplace, including rest intervals) has been extended from 10.5 hours to 12 hours per day. This allows employers to plan longer, broken shifts to accommodate complex operational requirements.
• Overtime Threshold Adjustments: While the overtime wage remains at double the ordinary rate of wages, the maximum permissible overtime hours have been significantly increased. Under central rules, the ceiling has been raised from 50 hours per quarter to 125 hours per quarter, allowing factories to scale up production during peak seasons.
• Consents for Overtime: The Factories Act allowed management to assign overtime based on operational needs. The OSHWC Code mandates that written or explicit consent must be taken from the worker before assigning overtime work, preventing forced extra hours.
• Relaxed Annual Leave Qualification: Under the 1948 Act, a worker had to work for at least 240 days in a calendar year to qualify for paid annual leave the following year. The OSHWC Code cuts this qualification period down to 180 days, making it much easier for contract or short-term workers to earn paid leaves.
• Leave Accumulation and Carry-Forward: Workers can carry forward up to 30 days of earned leave to the succeeding calendar year. If the accumulated leave exceeds this limit, the worker has the right to encash the excess leave at the end of the calendar year.

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2. Hazardous Processes and Universal Safety Policies

• Expanded Employer "Duty of Care": Section 6 of the OSHWC Code introduces an overarching "General Duty of Care" for employers. Unlike the Factories Act, which listed specific physical safety rules, the Code requires employers to ensure a workplace free from identifiable hazards that could cause injury or occupational disease, shifting accountability to the boardroom.
• Mandatory Comprehensive Health Policy: Every establishment employing 10 or more workers must formulate and issue a written Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Policy. This policy must outline the company's precise strategy for risk assessment, hazard prevention, and worker safety training.
• Lower Safety Officer Threshold: To ensure professional safety oversight in mid-sized industries, the OSHWC Code drops the employee threshold for appointing a dedicated Safety Officer from 1,000 workers down to 500 workers (or 250 workers for factories dealing with hazardous processes).
• Bi-partite Safety Committees: For any factory employing 500 or more workers, the composition of a Safety Committee is mandatory. This committee must feature an equal number of representatives from both management and actual shop-floor workers to collaboratively identify workplace risks.
• Proactive Hazard Reporting Rights: Under Section 14, workers have been granted a statutory right to report immediate health or safety hazards directly to the management or the Safety Committee. If the employer fails to take remedial action, the worker can report it to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator without fear of workplace retaliation.
• Emergency Prohibition Powers: If an Inspector-cum-Facilitator finds that a hazardous process or factory section poses an immediate danger to human life, they have the power to issue an interim order prohibiting employment in that specific area until the hazard is completely mitigated.

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3. Penalties, Compounding, and Decriminalization

• Substantially Escalated Fines: Financial penalties have been drastically increased to act as real deterrents. Under the Factories Act, generic fines hovered around ₹1 Lakh. Under the OSHWC Code, general safety violations attract fines up to ₹2 Lakhs, while violations causing death or serious bodily injury can lead to fines up to ₹5 Lakhs.
• Decriminalization of Procedural Lapses: To promote the "Ease of Doing Business," minor or clerical non-compliances (such as failing to maintain a digital register or delaying a return) have been decriminalized. They no longer carry an immediate risk of imprisonment, shifting instead to monetary penalties.
• Compounding of Offences: The Code introduces a formal window for the compounding of offences (settling cases out of court by paying a specified fee). Any offense that does not carry mandatory imprisonment can be compounded for 50% of the maximum fine prescribed for that offense, drastically reducing pending labor litigation.
• Mandatory Right to Rectification: Before launching a formal prosecution for non-serious offenses, the Inspector-cum-Facilitator must issue a written notice giving the employer an opportunity (typically 30 days) to rectify the compliance gap. Prosecution is initiated only if the employer fails to comply within this window.
• Direct Payout to Accident Victims: In a major worker-centric shift, if a court imposes a fine on an employer for a safety violation that resulted in a worker's death or serious bodily injury, at least 50% of that collected fine must be paid directly to the victim or their legal heirs as immediate compensation. This is over and above any payouts from the Employee's State Insurance (ESI) or Employee's Compensation Act.
• Enhanced Penalties for Repeat Offenders: If an employer is convicted of the same safety violation within two years of a previous conviction, they face double the original monetary fine along with a mandatory imprisonment term extending up to two years.