After factories, shops allowed to let women work on night shifts

Panaji: Goa’s labour department issued a notification that allows women to work night shifts at retail stores, warehouses, call centres and commercial establishments, but only with their consent. The department stated that the owner of the shop or commercial establishment must provide adequate, secure and safe transportation facilities to pick up and drop off the worker at her residence.

The notification follows recent tweaks to labour laws which permit women to work in the night shift in select factories and manufacturing facilities. “Employment between the hours of 7pm and 6am shall be with the consent in writing of the concerned women workers,” the department’s notification said.

To ensure the security of women, CCTV cameras must be installed and maintained in the work areas where women workers will be employed. The notification also states that the owner of the business must provide safe, secure, and healthy working conditions such that no woman is “disadvantaged in connection” with her employment.

An industry official said that many women already work the night shift at call centres, startups, departmental stores, casinos, eateries and hotels. Some of the activities where the notification could help are petrol pumps, departmental stores, retail stores, quick-service eateries, firms that deal with outsourcing or off-shoring of services, and the tourism sector.