The draft rules for the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, published by the Karnataka government on January 27, have capped the daily working hours at 10.5 hours, stipulating that a worker cannot be made to work more than 48 hours in a week.
It further notes that the working day can be extended up to 12 hours for certain factories or categories of workers, if notified by the State Government.
This appears to be in the same vein as the proposed amendment to the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1961, in June, 2025. The proposal then suggested increasing the daily working hours to 10 from the current nine hours, and to cap the total number of work hours at 12 a day, including overtime, inviting severe criticisms from trade unions.
Rest and overtime
According to the rules, in case of overtime, the worker shall be eligible for compensation, which is twice his ordinary rate of wages.
While the draft rules limit overtime to a maximum of 144 hours in a quarter, this figure is almost thrice the existing limit. As per the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961, the total overtime worked must not exceed 50 hours in any continuous three-month period.
Definition of factory
The Code subsumes 13 Acts including Factories Act 1948, Mines Act, 1952, and Interstate Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, among others.
Satyanand Mukund, State secretary of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), raised concerns regarding the definition of factory in the Code.
“The threshold for a factory has been raised from 10 to 20 workers. That will encourage outsourcing of work from bigger factories to smaller factories, where the question of overtime payment will not arise. These will essentially become sweatshops,” he said.
Mr. Mukund further expressed concerns that the Inspector-cum-Facilitator regime prioritises advisory compliance over strict enforcement, which could weaken deterrence against violations.
Migrant workers
Payal Gaikwad, a labour lawyer, pointed out that the draft rules do not require the employer to pay displacement allowances to inter-State migrant workers, in contrast to the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.
“When inter-State migration is far more widespread and expensive, The Karnataka OSH Rules, 2026 do not provide for any such allowance…While earlier labour laws treated migration as a condition requiring compensation, the draft rules reduce the inter-State migration to an administrative category,” she said.
Hazardous work
According to Ms. Gaikwad, while the draft rules retain detailed safety provisions, they rely increasingly on audit-based mechanisms and internal compliance systems.
“The shift from frequent inspection to periodic verification marks a change in regulatory philosophy, moving away from State vigilance towards managed self-compliance. This raises questions about whether the intensity of oversight now matches the gravity of risk, especially in smaller but high-risk units,” she said.
While the draft rules require principal employers to be identified in official records and impose a direct obligation on them to provide basic workplace amenities where contract workers are deployed, Ms. Gaikwad noted failures by contractors are addressed primarily through licensing conditions, security deposits, administrative inquiries and suspension or cancellation of licences, rather than through immediate fallback responsibility of the principal employer.
Positive overall
However, Prashanth B.K., who heads CCI Legal, felt that the OSH Code and Rules could bring in positive changes. He pointed out that the rules demand accountability from both employer and worker.
“From the employer’s perspective, the fines for contravention of the Act have increased substantially. At the same time, the duties of employees are also listed out, in violation of which penalties have been brought in place. This way, both sides stay vigilant,” he said.
Mr. Prashanth also hailed the introduction of free medical checkups for workers above 40, and a common licence through consolidation of the multiple Acts.
“If the licence is not granted within the prescribed period, it is deemed to be accepted. Earlier, getting licences used to take months. This way, it holds the administrative officers also liable,” he said.
