Haryana Government revises conditions for the employment of women in night shifts

Partner: Veena Gopalakrishnan, Senior Associate: Vinduja Menon, Associate: Sandhya Swaminathan

On 8 May 2025, the government of Haryana notified revised conditions for employing women during night shifts in certain establishments. These include Information Technology (IT), Information Technology Enabled Services (ITes), banking, three-star or above hotels, 100% export-oriented establishments, and logistics and warehousing establishments (Notified Establishments) that are registered under the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958 (as applicable to Haryana) (Haryana S&E Act). For the purpose of this notification, ‘night shift’ refers to the period from 8.00 pm to 6.00 am.

Key conditions for employers in this regard include the following.

Exemption application

To engage women employees in night shifts, employers must apply for an exemption from the restriction under Section 30 of the Haryana S&E Act. This application must be submitted to the Labour Commissioner or Chief Inspector of Shops of Haryana one month before the commencement of the period for which the exemption is sought. Exemptions are valid for one year, unless there are changes in security, transportation agreements, or other details of the occupier, director or manager of the establishment.

Compliance with law against workplace sexual harassment

Employers must comply with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and submit a copy of their annual returns to the District Authority and the Labour Commissioner, Haryana.

Employee consent

Employers must obtain consent from each woman employee to work during the night shift.

Provision of adequate facilities

• Employers must provide proper lighting inside and outside the establishment, and sufficient security guards must be provided during the night shift.
• Employers must also provide transportation to and from the workplace, with security guards (including female guards), trained drivers, and proper communication channels in each vehicle. CCTV cameras and GPS may also be installed in each vehicle. Women can opt out of the transportation facility with written consent. Transportation can be pooled with external transporters.
• Medical facilities, including a doctor or nurse, must be provided. Ambulance services can be pooled with nearby hospitals. Emergency contact numbers must be displayed at prominent places in the establishment.
• Boarding and lodging arrangements, if provided, must be exclusively for women and supervised by women wardens or supervisors.

Employment in batches

Women workers must be employed in batches of at least four. This batch-size requirement does not apply to senior-level women employees in IT/ITes establishments earning more than INR 1 lakh per month who consent to work at night.

Compliance with other applicable labour laws

While receiving exemption from the relevant authorities in relation to employing women in night shift, employers are still required to ensure compliance with the provisions of other applicable labour laws, including the Haryana S&E Act, Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 and the Punjab Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1965 (as applicable to Haryana).

This notification simplifies and consolidates the conditions previously issued in 2023 for employing women in night shifts in Haryana. While the requirement to apply for permission remains, the notification eases several compliance obligations for employers operating in Notified Establishments. The key relaxations include:

• permitting the pooling of employer-provided transport and ambulance services,
• allowing women to opt out of employer-arranged transport,
• removing certain requirements such as mandatory rest periods between shifts, grievance redressal meetings, submission of night shift employee reports, maintenance of boarding registers, and provision of dedicated canteen or work shed facilities, and
• withdrawing the earlier mandate that one-third of the night shift workforce in the logistics and warehousing sectors should be women.

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