The State Government has overhauled multiple provisions of the 1962 Act to modernise definitions, streamline registration, expand employer obligations, revise working hour limits, regulate women’s night shifts, and tighten enforcement. The amendments significantly change compliance requirements for shops and commercial establishments with 20+ employee

The Ordinance renames marginal headings, removes outdated sub-sections, and broadens the definition of “commercial establishment.” It now includes professional service platforms, medical establishments, technical consultants, and outsourced workers. Establishments employing fewer than twenty employees are exempted from registration, while those with twenty or more must apply online within six months, with automatic certificate generation. Registration can be cancelled if obtained through misrepresentation, and the certificate is not proof of ownership.

Working hours have been restructured: young persons cannot exceed six hours daily; adults cannot exceed nine hours daily with a weekly cap of forty-eight hours. Overtime is capped at eleven hours per day during stock-taking and 144 hours per quarter, payable at twice the ordinary rate. Women may work between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. only when employers provide consent-based deployment with strict safety, transport, shelter, toilet, and creche facilities.

New obligations require employers to provide seating for employees working standing jobs and to issue formal appointment letters detailing key employment particulars. Before prosecuting an employer for most offences, inspectors must issue a 15-day improvement notice unless the employer repeats the same violation within five years. Penalties have been revised to ₹2,000 for the first offence and ₹10,000 for subsequent offences.