Under the Labour Codes in force since 21 November 2025, normal working hours are capped at eight a day and forty-eight a week, and overtime cannot simply be assigned to you — it needs your consent and must be paid at twice the normal rate.
Quick snapshot
- Daily cap: 8 hours of normal working time.
- Weekly cap: 48 hours of normal working time.
- Overtime rate: twice the normal rate of wages.
- Overtime consent: required — it is not an automatic obligation.
- In force since: 21 November 2025, under the four Labour Codes.
- Not covered here: notice period, which comes from your own contract rather than the hour rules.
Normal working hours under the Labour Codes are capped at eight hours in a day and forty-eight hours in a week. Work beyond that is overtime. Two conditions attach to it: the worker has to consent, and the employer has to pay at twice the normal rate of wages. The weekly figure is the one that binds in practice — how the forty-eight hours are spread across days is set by the applicable rules and your employer, so a longer day is possible without the week exceeding the cap.
The two caps, and which one actually binds
| Limit | Value | What it means day to day |
|---|---|---|
| Normal daily hours | 8 | The standard working day before overtime applies |
| Normal weekly hours | 48 | The ceiling across the week, whatever the daily pattern |
| Overtime rate | 2× normal wages | Applies to hours worked beyond the normal limits |
| Overtime consent | Required | Overtime is agreed, not imposed as routine |
The weekly cap is the more useful number to hold on to. Discussion of compressed weeks usually focuses on the daily figure, but the forty-eight hour week is the limit that does not move. A pattern that lengthens some days has to shorten others.
A four-day week is not an entitlement. The Codes cap the week at forty-eight hours; they do not grant anyone the right to compress those hours into fewer days. How the week is arranged is a matter for the applicable rules and your employer, and treating it as a legal right is the most common misreading of these provisions.
Overtime: the consent requirement most people do not know
Overtime is permitted only with the worker's consent, and it is paid at twice the normal rate. Both halves matter, and the first is routinely overlooked.
In practice many employees treat extra hours as an unavoidable feature of the job and never ask whether they agreed to them or whether they are being paid for them. The rule says otherwise: extra hours are something you agree to, and agreeing to them triggers a doubled rate.
Check how your hours are recorded. If nothing logs the hours you actually work, nothing can establish that overtime occurred.
Look at your payslip for an overtime line. Regular long weeks with no overtime component is the pattern worth asking about.
Raise it in writing, early and factually. Hours worked, hours paid, dates. Not a grievance — a reconciliation.
Keep your own record. A simple dated log is the only evidence most employees ever have.
Why "my CTC covers it" is not an answer
A common response to an overtime question is that the package already accounts for extra hours. That conflates two separate things. CTC is a commercial figure describing what you cost the employer in a year. The overtime rule is a statutory rate attaching to hours worked beyond the normal limits.
The same confusion shows up in how wages themselves are defined. Under the Code on Wages, "wages" means basic pay, dearness allowance and retaining allowance, and where excluded allowances such as HRA, conveyance, bonus or commission exceed 50% of total remuneration, the excess is added back. That uniform definition is what statutory entitlements are computed on — not the headline package.
Night work, and what the employer owes you
Women may work at night — before 6 a.m. and beyond 7 p.m. — and in all categories of work, including those previously closed to them. Two conditions attach: the worker's consent, and adequate arrangements by the employer for safety, facilities and transport.
For anyone joining an international-process or support role, where night shifts are the norm rather than the exception, the transport obligation is the practical one to confirm before accepting. It is not a perk the employer offers; it is a condition attached to asking you to work those hours.
Ask at offer stage, not after joining. Shift pattern, whether transport is provided both ways, and what the arrangement is on a shift that overruns. These are reasonable questions and the answers tell you how the operation is actually run.
Leave accrual sits alongside the hour rules
Annual leave with wages becomes available after 180 days of work in a calendar year. That threshold is shorter than the one it replaced, and it matters most for someone who joins part way through a year — previously a mid-year joiner often could not take paid annual leave until the following calendar year.
Leave, hours and overtime are governed together under the same Code, which is why a conversation about one usually turns into a conversation about the others.
What these rules do not decide
| Question | Where the answer actually comes from |
|---|---|
| My notice period | Your contract and the applicable standing orders — the hour rules say nothing about it |
| Whether I can work from home | Employer policy and your contract |
| My exact shift timings | Employer rostering within the statutory caps |
| Whether I get a four-day week | Employer arrangement; the Codes cap the week, they do not shape it |
| Professional tax on my payslip | Your state, not your employer or these Codes |
Keeping that boundary clear saves a lot of wasted argument. The Codes set floors and ceilings; a large amount of day-to-day working life is still contractual.
What to actually check in your first month
Most disputes about hours are not arguments about the law. They are arguments about what happened, between two people who did not write anything down. The way to avoid that is to establish the facts early, while nothing is contentious.
| Check | Where to find it | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Your stated working hours | Appointment letter or annexure | A specific daily and weekly figure, not "as per business requirement" |
| How hours are captured | Attendance or access system | Something that records actual in and out times, which you can see |
| Overtime treatment | Payslip | A separate line, or a documented policy explaining its absence |
| Shift pattern and rotation | Team roster | Published in advance rather than announced the same week |
| Transport for night shifts | HR policy | Both directions, and a stated arrangement for shifts that overrun |
| Weekly off | Roster and policy | Clear, and clear about what happens when you are asked to work it |
If several of these come back as "it depends", that is itself the useful answer. It tells you the operation runs on informal arrangement, which is fine when things go well and expensive when they do not.
Sector and establishment differences
The Codes are central law, but they take effect through rules framed by central and state governments. Thresholds, procedures and some exemptions vary by state, by sector and by the size of the establishment.
That is why two people doing similar work in different states can be covered differently, and why a provision that applies to a large factory may apply differently to a small office. The caps described above are the statutory floor and ceiling; the detail of how they are applied to your workplace sits in the rules for your state and sector.
A second practical consequence is that moving between states can change your position without anything in your job changing. A transfer from one office to another can alter professional tax, and can bring you under a different set of state rules for hours and leave, while your contract and your work stay exactly the same. It is worth asking about at the point of transfer rather than discovering it on a payslip.
Treat any blanket claim with suspicion. Content that states one national rule for every workplace, with no mention of state rules or establishment size, is usually simplifying something that matters. If a figure decides something important for you, confirm it against the official release or ask someone qualified to read the applicable rules.
How many hours can I legally be asked to work?
Normal working hours are capped at eight in a day and forty-eight in a week. Anything beyond that is overtime, which requires your consent and must be paid at twice the normal rate of wages.
What is the overtime rate in India?
Twice the normal rate of wages, for hours worked beyond the normal limits.
Can my employer force me to do overtime?
Overtime is allowed only with the worker's consent. It is agreed rather than imposed as a routine obligation, and where it is worked it carries the doubled rate.
Do the Labour Codes give me a four-day week?
No. The Codes cap normal hours at forty-eight a week. How those hours are distributed across days is determined by the applicable rules and your employer, not by an automatic entitlement.
Can women be asked to work night shifts?
Women may work at night and in all categories of work, with their consent, and the employer must make adequate arrangements for safety, facilities and transport.
When do I earn annual leave?
Annual leave with wages is available after 180 days of work in a calendar year.
My CTC is high. Does that cover overtime?
CTC is a commercial figure for what you cost the employer annually. The overtime rate is a statutory entitlement attaching to hours worked beyond the normal caps. They are separate things.
Do these rules set my notice period?
No. Notice period comes from your contract and the applicable standing orders. The working-hour provisions do not fix a single national notice period.
Sources: Press Information Bureau, Government makes the four Labour Codes effective · Press Information Bureau, new Labour Codes: women, safety and workplace flexibility · Press Information Bureau, Code on Wages, 2019 and the definition of wages.
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