Maharashtra Govt. To Allow Women Employees To Work In Night Shifts

21 May.Mumbai
Maharashtra Government has decided to make amendments to Factories Act 1948, thus making the way for women employees to work in night shifts. The amendments will also enable workers to be eligible for paid leave after working for 90 days in a year instead of the current 240 days or more.
The changes in the 67-year old Act is likely to bring much needed succor to workers working in over 14,000 factories across the state. Industrialists in state while welcoming the decision has called this a bold step.

“Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while speaking about the state decision said that Section 66 (1) (c) of the Factories Act, 1948 restricted women from working at a factory between 7 PM and 6 AM. But with these changes the factory managements will now have to ensure security of women working in night shifts’.
State Industries Minister said that the decision was taken after much deliberations and demands from several labour union leaders and politicians that women be allowed to work post 7 pm.

With this, Maharashtra will join the select Indian states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh that already allow women to work in night shits or are in the process of doing so.
Besides this, it would not be mandatory for workers to take the management’s permission for overtime, the limit for which in three months will be increased to 115 hours from the current 75.