Team Herald
Panjim: In view of shortage of workers in the factories, the State has allowed maximum 12 hours of work per day with exemption given to ‘adult workers.’ The government has also restricted total hours of work, every week, to 60 hours including overtime.
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The State is reeling under massive shortage of workers, a large number of whom are migrants from various states. Around 80,000 have so far registered with the local authorities to go back to their natives despite the government urging them to stay back.
“In the wake of the current crisis on account of COVID-19 pandemic, there are restrictions on movement of workers leading to shortage of worker thereby causing the factories to deal with an exceptional press of work. In order to enable the factories to deal with said exceptional press of work in view of said crisis, there is a need for relaxing certain provisions of The Factories Act, 1948 (Central Act No. 63 of 1948) thereby extending the working hours for optimum utilization of the workers in the factories, which have been allowed to operate under the guidelines issued by the (Union)Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Government of Goa from time to time,” a notification issued by the Department of Labour reads.
The government has thus exempted all the adult workers working in all of the factories situated in the State of Goa – who are not holding positions of supervision or management and/or not employed in a confidential position – from the provisions of Sections 51, 52, 54 and 56 of the Act, till July 31, 2020. As per the sections, all the adult workers are given relaxation in the number of working hours and weekly holidays.
