Under the Factories Act 1948, the maximum permissible working hours for an adult worker in a week is 48 hours. If a worker exceeds this limit, the overtime work must be compensated at:

• A Twice the ordinary rate of wages ✓
• B One and a half times the ordinary rate of wages
• C Twice the ordinary rate plus a compensatory holiday
• D Three times the ordinary rate of wages

Explanation

Section 59 of the Factories Act 1948 states that work beyond 9 hours a day or 48 hours a week must be paid at twice the ordinary rate of wages. One and a half times is the overtime convention in several other labour laws and general employment practice, which makes it the tempting distractor, but the statutory Indian factory rate is exactly double.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.