Yes. Section 26 of the OSH Code 2020 bars any worker from working more than six days in a week, and section 13 of the Code on Wages 2019 provides a day of rest in every seven. The rules make it ordinarily Sunday, though the employer can fix another day. The rest day can be moved to a nearby day, but never so that anyone works more than ten days in a row. A contract crew is covered the same way as direct staff.
Two Codes, one rest day
The OSH Code sets the limit on work, and the Code on Wages sets the rest day and the pay. Section 26(1) of the OSH Code says no worker shall be allowed to work in an establishment "for more than six days in any one week". Section 13(1)(b) of the Code on Wages lets the appropriate government provide "a day of rest in every period of seven days" with "payment of remuneration in respect of such days of rest". Section 13(1)(c) adds payment for work on a rest day at no less than the overtime rate.
The detail sits in the rules, and for a private factory in Tamil Nadu the appropriate government is the State. Its rules under both Codes are still drafts: the Code on Wages (Tamil Nadu) Rules 2022 and the OSH (Tamil Nadu) Rules 2022, both published for objections on 11 April 2022 [VERIFY: whether Tamil Nadu has since notified final rules]. The Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, notified on 8 May 2026, bind central-sphere establishments only. The table compares them.
| Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, r.6 | Tamil Nadu drafts 2022 (Wages r.7; OSH rr.28–29) | |
|---|---|---|
| Which day | Ordinarily Sunday; the employer may fix another day for any employee or class | Ordinarily Sunday; the employer may fix another day (Wages r.7(1)) |
| Who qualifies | Six continuous days with the same employer | Six continuous days with the same employer |
| Moving it | To a working day in the week immediately before or after | To one of the five days before or after (Wages r.7(2)); the OSH draft says three days and needs advance notice to the inspector (OSH r.28(2)) |
| Outer limit | Never more than ten days in a row without a rest day | Never more than ten days in a row without a whole day off |
| Notice | Displayed at the workplace or electronically, before any change | In Tamil, English and the majority language, by relay where days differ (OSH r.28(1)) |
Is the day off paid?
Yes, but on a monthly rate the pay is usually already inside the wage. Rule 6(4) of the Central rules pays the rest day at the rate applicable to the previous working day. Its proviso adds that where the daily rate was worked out by dividing the monthly rate by 26, "no wages for the rest day shall be payable". A month has about 26 working days and four or five rest days, so the monthly wage already covers the rest days. The Tamil Nadu draft (r.7(4)) uses the same 26 divisor.
- Monthly-rated crew, daily rate = monthly ÷ 26. The rest day is covered by the monthly wage; nothing extra is owed for it. Take ₹15,600 a month as a round illustration, not a rate: that is ₹600 a day, and the month's wage is the same whether it has four Sundays or five.
- Daily-rated crew paid only for days worked. If the daily rate was not derived from a monthly rate ÷ 26, the rest day is paid at the previous working day's rate. A contractor that pays six days and nothing for the seventh is short by one day's wage a week.
- Piece-rated crew. Rule 6(4)'s final proviso pays work on a rest day at the overtime rate and the substituted rest day at the previous working day's rate.
Working on the rest day
It is allowed only with a substitute day, and the day worked is paid at double. Under rule 6(2) and (4), a worker who works the rest day gets a substituted rest day close to it, and is paid for the rest day worked at the overtime rate, "not less than twice the normal rate of wages". Moving the day without double pay, or paying double without a substitute, gets only half the rule right.
The Tamil Nadu OSH draft adds paperwork that a site running a Sunday shift has to plan for. Before the rest day, or the substitute day if that comes first, the employer delivers a notice to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator's office and displays one at the site (draft r.28(2)). The notice can be cancelled the same way, no later than the day before (r.28(3)). Where an exemption order takes rest days away, section 26(3) of the Code requires compensatory holidays of equal number within that month or the two following. Draft rule 29 spaces them at no more than two a week, requires a notice by month-end, and requires them to be given before a worker is discharged.
Who owes it to a contract crew
The contractor pays it, and the site sets the roster that decides it. The contractor is the crew's employer for wages, so rest-day pay and double pay for rest-day work sit on its wage register. But section 26 limits work "in an establishment", and the site's production plan decides who is on the floor on a Sunday. When the site asks for a seventh day from a crew, the substitute day and the double pay follow, whoever writes the payslip.
- Count days per person, not per crew. The ten-day limit and the six-day qualifying period run for each worker. A worker moved between two crews with different rest days can cross ten consecutive days without anyone planning it.
- Mind the change of contractor. The six-day qualification is with "the same employer". A worker who moves to a new contractor mid-week starts a new count, and the handover week is where rest days get lost. Our article on switching contractors covers the rest of the changeover.
- Read the attendance register against the roster. A Sunday present-mark with no substitute day nearby, and no double rate on the wage slip, is the pattern an inspector looks for.
- Put the rest day in the work order. Name the crew's weekly rest day and the rule for substitution, so a production request for a Sunday arrives as a planned exception, not a habit.
Whether a particular continuous process qualifies for an exemption from section 26, and how the Tamil Nadu rules will read once final, are questions for the site's own counsel and the Labour Department.
How Velura Services helps
Velura rosters every crew with a weekly rest day, records substituted holidays, and plans relief cover so no worker runs past the limit to keep a line staffed. Our attendance registers show the rest days worker by worker, which is what an inspector asks for.
Sources
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI. Section 26(1)–(3): no more than six days in a week, the ten-day proviso for motor transport, exemptions, and compensatory holidays within the month or the two following. Opened and read.
- The Code on Wages, 2019 (Act 29 of 2019), Gazette text hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Section 13(1)(b) and (c): a day of rest in every seven days with payment, and work on a rest day at no less than the overtime rate. Opened and read.
- Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 343(E) dated 8 May 2026, mirrored copy of the Gazette. Rule 6: rest day ordinarily Sunday, six-day qualification, substitution, the ten-day limit, rest-day wages, the monthly ÷ 26 proviso and piece rates. Opened and read [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].
- Code on Wages (Tamil Nadu) Rules, 2022 (draft), G.O. Ms. No. 36, 11 April 2022. Rule 7: weekly day of rest, the five-day substitution window, the ten-day limit and the ÷ 26 proviso. Opened and read. Draft only.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Tamil Nadu) Rules, 2022 (draft), G.O. Ms. No. 38, 11 April 2022, Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 216. Rule 28 (weekly day of rest: notice, three-day substitution, prior notice to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator, ten-day limit) and rule 29 (compensatory holidays). Opened and read. Draft only.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E) dated 8 May 2026, mirrored copy of the Gazette. Rule 67 (notice of the weekly holiday by relay) and rule 68 (compensatory holidays). Opened and read [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].