The Constitution of India guarantees certain rights to employees under Articles 14-16, i.e. the right to equality, Article 19(1)(c), which grants the fundamental right to form associations and unions, Articles 23-24, which forbids any form of exploitation and Article 38, i.e. the guarantee to social, economic and political justice, and certain other rights under DPSPs. The Indian Labour Law provides for various rights to private employees like maternity benefits, provident funds, gratuity benefits, right to leave and appropriate working hours, etc. 

There are various provisions for determining working hours and overtime wages. All persons working in any factory, any mine, or those working as a building or construction worker or as employees in a shop are eligible for overtime payment legislation. Members of the armed forces or those working overtime without authority however are not eligible for overtime work. The normal working hours are 8-9 hours per day or 48-50 hours per week. Sections 51-54 of the Factories Act of 1948 stipulate that no worker shall be made to work more than 9 hours a day and 48 hours a week. Section 55 of the Act further stipulates that there must at least be a break of 30 minutes between working hours for the employees and it is to be ensured that no one works for more than 5 hours without a break. Section 59 of the Act provides for extra wages for overtime work and provides for the formula for calculating overtime pay.  

These wages may be calculated on a per-hour basis or as a per-piece rate. The former technique provides for each additional hour of work, double wages are paid. The per-piece rate provides an overtime rate for each additional piece produced during the overtime period. The hourly overtime rate is calculated by adding up basic pay + DA (Dearly Allowance) + RA (Retaining Allowance)/ total no. of days in a month (26-30 days) x Maximum working hours in a day (8-9 hours) and multiplying the result by 2. According to the Shops and Establishments Act, employees are paid for overtime work at wages set by the State Government or that of the UT. Similar provisions find a place in the Bidi and Cigar Workers Act, of 1966 and the Contract Labour Act of 1970 for the workers. 

There are many important case laws in this regard as well. The Supreme Court has held that Government workers cannot claim overtime allowance under the Factories Act. This, however, is controversial as labour rights have been elevated by the Apex Court to the status of human rights and hence, there is a demand for the inclusion of government employees under the Factories Act. It has further directed the Government to investigate violations of payments of overtime work time and again in the private sector. The Court has further made the State and the Central Government responsible as “appropriate government” to ensure proper implementation of these laws relating to overtime work. Thus, many case laws further advance the legislation on overtime wages. However, these make the setup even more complicated. There are various labour legislations, and it is quite ambiguous to determine where a person shall get rights. Adding to this is the burden of case laws. This reduces access and understanding in some senses. 

Even though such extensive provisions are available for employees working in various sectors, many problems still need to be overcome. The foremost problem is awareness. People are not aware of the rights and regulations governing overtime work. Next, despite efforts made by the judiciary, there are certain sectors and some situations where employees may not enjoy the benefit of overtime wages. The first one is if the employee is employed in any sector beyond the overtime work limits. For the workers employed under any such sectors, they must wait for Labour Codes dedicated to their sectors. Even though this is an important issue, it remains ambiguous. Awareness and more coverage of sectors are needed for things to improve. This is an important allowance for workers who work overtime as they are rewarded for work done extra, other than is needed and hence, this provision must be available to all employees in all sectors. 

It can be concluded that there are extensive provisions in the labour codes and legislation to provide overtime wages to employees. However, they don’t cover all sectors and situations. Further, there is a lack of awareness and complicated laws exist in this regard which makes it tough to recognise one’s rights. Even though this problem is somewhat solved by the coming of the 4 labour codes, it still exists. Next, there are implementation problems, especially in the private sector. Looking at the plethora of problems, the legislature, as well as the judiciary, and even society need to realise the need of the hour and solve these problems to effectively implement the overtime rights of employees.