Working Days in India: What the Labour Law Says

No Indian law fixes a single national number of “working days” for every employer. What the law does is set a ceiling and a floor. A worker cannot be made to work more than 6 days in a week, and must get at least one weekly day of rest (24 consecutive hours), while total hours stay within 8 per day and 48 per week. Whether your office runs 5, 5.5 or 6 days is an employer decision inside those limits. These rules come from the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (“OSH Code”), in force since 21 November 2025, read with the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 and your state’s rules.

Why “working days” is a trickier question than it looks

In legal practice, “working days” is used in at least three different senses, and confusing them causes real disputes:

1. Days a worker may be required to attend (the weekly schedule, capped at six days).
2. Days counted for leave eligibility (a worker must have worked 180 days in a calendar year to qualify for annual leave under the OSH Code).
3. Days used as a payroll divisor (for example, 26 days to derive a daily or hourly wage rate).

A company can be compliant on the first and wrong on the other two. This article separates them.

The weekly limit: six days, one day of rest

Under the OSH framework:

• No worker may be made to work more than 6 days in any week.
• Every worker is entitled to at least one weekly holiday of 24 consecutive hours.
• The weekly off is a paid rest day. Wages cannot be deducted for it.

This position is largely carried over from the earlier regime (the Factories Act, 1948 and state Shops and Establishments Acts). What is new is that it now sits in a single Code that applies across many types of establishments.

Is a five-day week legal? Yes. The law sets a maximum of six working days, not a minimum. A five-day week with two days off is a contractual and policy choice. Likewise, a compressed four-day week is legally possible if the weekly limit of 48 hours is respected, but it is optional and needs workforce agreement (see our companion article on maximum weekly working hours).

The five-day week trap: 48 hours over fewer days

Many employers moving to a five-day week quietly stretch daily hours to compensate. The arithmetic matters:

• 48 hours over 5 days is 9.6 hours a day, which exceeds the 8-hour daily norm.
• For monthly-paid workers, the Central Rules test overtime against the 48-hour week, so a 9-hour day within a 45-hour week does not by itself create overtime.
• For daily-wage workers, anything beyond 8 hours in a day is overtime payable at double rate.

So the same five-day schedule can be lawful for a monthly-paid employee and generate overtime liability for a daily-wage worker. Check how each worker is classified and paid before standardising a roster. Also check your state’s rules, because the daily hours and spread-over limit are set there for most private establishments.

Compensatory holidays when the weekly off is lost

If a worker is deprived of a weekly holiday, the law requires a compensatory holiday. Under the Central Rules (rule 68, as reported), compensatory holidays are spaced so that no more than two fall in one week, and they are notified by the end of the month in which the holidays were lost.

Practical points for employers:

• Keep a register of workers who worked on a weekly holiday.
• Do not let compensatory holidays pile up. Unscheduled accumulation is a common inspection finding.
• Work on a rest day also has overtime implications. Confirm the treatment in your state’s rules.

National and festival holidays: what the OSH Code does not say

This is the most frequently misunderstood point. The OSH Code regulates weekly holidays and annual leave. It does not contain a national list of compulsory festival or public holidays.

Holiday entitlements for private establishments therefore come from other sources:

• State laws and notifications: state Shops and Establishments Acts or state-specific national and festival holiday laws (Karnataka has such an Act, for example).
• Employer policy and contracts: the holiday list in your appointment letter or handbook.
• Common baseline: three national holidays (Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti) are widely treated as mandatory in many states, with state-notified festival holidays added on top. Whether a particular holiday is compulsory for your establishment depends on your state’s law.

If a holiday falls on the worker’s weekly off, treat it as two separate questions: the weekly-rest rule and the holiday rule. Do not assume the holiday “absorbs” the weekly off, because the Code’s compensatory-holiday provisions can apply.

Annual leave: the 180-day rule and what counts

The OSH Code reduced the eligibility threshold for annual leave with wages from 240 days (old Factories Act) to 180 days of work in a calendar year. This matters for fixed-term, seasonal and project-based staff who were often left out under the old threshold.

Key rules, as widely reported:

• Accrual: one day of leave for every 20 days of work (for adult workers).
• Counting days: periods of lay-off, maternity leave and annual leave already taken count toward the 180 days, but they do not earn fresh leave.
• Holidays during leave: weekly holidays and other holidays falling within a leave period are not counted as leave days.
• Carry-forward and encashment: secondary sources report that leave can be carried forward up to 30 days, with the excess encashed. Confirm this against the Act, the rules and your state’s position before building policy on it.
• Exit: on discharge, dismissal, resignation, retirement or death, accrued leave is paid out on a proportionate basis even if the 180-day threshold was not met.

Illustration: A worker who joins on 1 March 2026 needs to complete 180 days of work within the calendar year to become eligible for that year. Days of paid holidays and weekly offs are treated according to the Code’s counting rules, so employers should map the exact count to their attendance records rather than assume calendar days.

Working days and the wage divisor

Payroll teams often convert monthly pay into a daily or hourly rate by dividing by a fixed number of days (commonly 26, or the actual days in the month). The Code does not mandate one universal divisor for every establishment. What matters:

• Use a method consistently and document it.
• Make sure overtime is computed on the correct ordinary rate of wages.
• Do not use a divisor that understates the daily rate for workers whose weekly off is paid.

Wage definition and divisor questions interact with the Code on Wages, 2019, so a payroll review should cover both Codes together.

Night shifts, women workers and weekly rest

Women may now work night shifts in all establishments, including factories, subject to consent and safety conditions such as transport and lit premises. Weekly off and working-day limits apply equally. Rosters should be built so that rotating night work does not deprive any worker of the weekly rest day.

Which rules apply to you? A quick decision path

1. Is the Central Government the “appropriate government” for your establishment? If so, the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 apply.
2. If not, find your state’s notified OSH rules and your state Shops and Establishments Act. Most private establishments fall here.
3. Check whether your sector has special rules (IT/ITES, plantations, mines, contract labour, motor transport).
4. Where two sources conflict, apply the one more favourable to the worker and record your reasoning.

Compliance checklist for employers

• Confirm whether Central or State rules govern each establishment
• Confirm no worker is rostered for more than six days in a week
• Provide at least one paid weekly rest day of 24 consecutive hours
• Maintain a register for work on weekly and public holidays
• Schedule and notify compensatory holidays on time
• Update leave policy to the 180-day eligibility rule
• Review state holiday list and Shops Act obligations
• Standardise and document the payroll divisor
• Re-check state rules each quarter, as they continue to evolve

Employee rights: if you are made to work beyond the limits

• Keep a record of the days and hours worked.
• Check your appointment letter and the company holiday list.
• Ask in writing for your compensatory holiday or overtime payment.
• You may approach the labour authorities under the Code if the issue is not resolved.
• Consult a labour lawyer before signing a settlement or resigning.

What remains unsettled

he OSH Code and Central Rules are less than a year old. We are not aware of reported higher-court rulings that interpret the weekly-holiday, compensatory-holiday and annual-leave provisions in detail. Open questions include how states will harmonise their Shops Acts with the Code, how compensatory holidays will be enforced in practice, and how leave carry-forward and encashment will be applied. We will update this article as the law develops.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

• Ministry of Labour and Employment FAQs on the OSH Code (January 2026): https://www.labour.gov.in/static/uploads/2026/01/fb8c6466d0d6a7ed581bcb2bee34694c.pdf
• PIB factsheet on the OSH Code, 2020: https://www.pib.gov.in/FactsheetDetails.aspx?id=150475&NoteId=150475&ModuleId=16&reg=3&lang=2
• Acuity Law, FAQs on the OSH Code and Central Rules, 2026: https://acuitylaw.co.in/faqs/faqs-on-the-occupational-safety-health-and-working-conditions-code-2020-and-the-occupational-safety-health-and-working-conditions-central-rules-2026/
• iPleaders, OSH Central Rules 2026: https://blog.ipleaders.in/osh-central-rules-2026-registration-hours-contract-labour/
• Key4Comply, public holidays for private establishments: https://www.key4comply.com/blogposts/2026-india-public-holidays-for-private-establishments-shops-act-osh-code-wage-code-compliance-guide/
• Primary sources to cite directly: the OSH Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020); OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 345(E), 8 May 2026); your state’s notified OSH rules and Shops and Establishments Act. Section numbers vary across secondary sources, so confirm them against the official text before citing.