14-hour workday for IT employees? Karnataka govt lands in another row

The Karnataka government is reportedly mulling the amendment of the law concerned to increase the working hours of IT and ITeS employees from 10 hours per day to 14 hours following a proposal from IT firms demanding such an extension. The move has drawn the ire of the Karnataka State IT/ ITES Employees Union (KITU), which has described it as inhuman and raised health and layoff concerns.

The government very recently faced backlash from industries regarding a draft Bill for job reservation for Kannadigas.

No personal life

“The new Bill, Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 2024, which is under consultation, has proposed to increase the working hours,” KITU said. “The bill denies the basic right of any worker to have a personal life. The Act, which currently allows a maximum of 10 hours of work per day, including overtime, will be lifted and this will facilitate companies to extend the work hours indefinitely,” it said.

The IT companies reportedly want the work hours to be legally extended to 14 hours (12 hours + 2 hours of overtime). Currently, the permitted working duration is nine hours with one hour allowed as overtime.

Unemployment concerns

The proposal also says that “employees in the IT/ITeS/BPO sector may be required or allowed to work more than 12 hours a day and not exceeding 125 hours in three continuous months”.

“This amendment will allow companies to go for a two-shift system, instead of the current three-shift system. With this, one-third of the workforce will be thrown out of their employment,” alleged Suhas Adiga, General Secretary, KITU, in a statement.

Machines, not humans

The Union said the amendment proposal was presented recently at a meeting of the labour department with various industry stakeholders. The government is reportedly likely to take further decisions on it soon and it is likely to be placed in the Cabinet for discussions.

The Union fumed that the state seems to think of employees as machines rather than human beings and urged the Siddaramaiah government to not implement the IT firms’ demand.

“According to a KCCI (Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry) report, 45 per cent of employees in the IT sector are facing mental health issues, such as depression, and 55 per cent are facing physical health impacts. Increasing working hours will further aggravate this situation,” it said.