(1) No adult worker shall be required or allowed to work in a shop or establishment for more than forty-eight hours in any week and eight hours in a day and no worker shall be asked to work continuously for more than five hours unless he has been given a break of not less than half an hour:
Provided that the working hours or of weekly rest may be relaxed in case of work of urgent nature with the previous permission of the 8 The J&K Official Gazette, 1st Nov., 2025/ 10th Kart., 1947. [No. 32-3 Assistant Labour Commissioner.
(2) The total number of hours of work in a shift including the rest interval shall not exceed ten and half hours in any shop or establishment and in case a worker is entrusted with intermittent nature of work or urgent work, the spread over shall not exceed twelve hours.
(3) Any working hour beyond eight hours a day or forty-eight hours a week shall be treated as overtime and the total number of overtime hours shall not exceed one hundred and forty-four hours in a period of three months.
(4) The Government shall make rules to: - a. subject to sub-section (1), fix the number of hours of work which shall constitute a normal working day for the workers employed in the shop or establishment, inclusive of one or more specified intervals;
b. Provide for a day of rest in every period of seven days which shall be allowed to all the workers employed in the shop or establishment and for the payment of remuneration in respect of such days of rest.
(5) The provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) shall, in relation to the following class of workers employed in such shop or establishment, apply only to such extent, and subject to such conditions, as may be prescribed, namely:
a. workers engaged on urgent work, or in any emergency which could not have been foreseen or prevented;
b. Workers engaged in the nature of preparatory or complementary work which must necessarily be carried on outside the normal hours of work laid down in the rules;
c. Workers engaged in any work which for technical reasons has to be completed before the day is over;
d. Workers engaged in a work which cannot be carried on except at times dependent on the irregular action for natural forces; and e. Highly skilled workers (such as workers working in the establishments of Information Technology, Bio- Technology, hospitals and medical Research institutes and Defence Development establishments).
No. 32-3] The J&K Official Gazette, 1st Nov., 2025/ 10th Kart., 1947. 9