Claim: A video shared by CITU Delhi claims that India’s newly implemented labour codes empower factory owners to unilaterally set rest periods and spreadover for workers, enabling them to mandate 12-hour shifts while paying only for 8 hours.
Conclusion: The claim is misleading. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, effective November 21, 2025, does not permit any such unilateral employer imposition of working conditions. Instead, it says overtime work requires worker consent and double payment.
Rating: Misleading — 
The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) Delhi has circulated claims on social media asserting that India’s newly implemented Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020, effective November 21, 2025 empowers factory owners to unilaterally set rest periods and spreadover for workers, enabling them to mandate 12-hour shifts while compensating only for 8 hours. This portrayal suggests a pro-employer shift that erodes workers’ protections.
The video spans around 3 minutes and 25 seconds where from 0:54, the reporter begins to criticize the code and claims that factory owners will force workers to stay for 12 hours but will only pay them for 8 hours, and another 4 hours given rest/break randomly. From 2:22 in the video, he claims that no overtime will be paid and the factory owners will abuse this loophole by exploiting workers for 12 hours but pay them only for 8 hours. View the Facebook post below:
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found that it is misleading. The newly implemented Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020 does not state that the factory owner can exploit the worker for 12 hours and not pay overtime. The code maintains government oversight on key parameters, mandates overtime pay at double rates and prohibits unilateral employer impositions.
Details:
We first conducted a keyword search with the phrase “Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020 provisions” to learn about the claim. The search took us to the detailed Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 guidelines by the Ministry of Law and Justice. View the complete 86-page PDF document here.
Section 25(1) part (a) of the OSH Code caps daily work at 8 hours which comes up to a total of 48 hours a week for six days. Part (b) of Section 25(1) notes various intervals and maximums which “may be notified by the appropriate Government”. Thus employers must follow the approved schedules and unilateral changes are prohibited. View a screenshot below –
Following this review, we examined the overtime provisions and found no credible basis allowing employers to compensate 12-hour shifts with only 8 hours of pay. Beyond the prescribed limits on working hours, Section 27 requires worker consent and payment at double the wage rate. View a screenshot below –
Under Part VIII, Section 92 highlights certain guidelines for the plantations. Factories cannot dictate rest intervals and spreadover that are notified under Section 25(1). Such violations incur fines up to ₹2 lakh under Section 92.
The working hours and overtime have been explained in a factsheet released by the Press Information Bureau which states the “appropriate Government has full flexibility for fixing the limit of over-time hours.” The factsheet further states this provision “ gives two benefits to workers, viz, opportunity to earn more by doing overtime and get paid at higher wage (double the normal wage rate)” View a screenshot of this below:
Lastly, the PIB fact check unit has debunked this claim in a X post that was posted on 10 December, 2025. Translated into English, the post urged users to “rely only on official sources for authentic information related to labour codes.” View the post here.
सोशल मीडिया पर सीआईटीयू ( CITU) दिल्ली द्वारा शेयर किए गए वीडियो में दावा किया जा रहा है कि नए लेबर कोड के तहत फैक्ट्री श्रमिकों के लिए विश्राम काल और स्प्रेडओवर फैक्ट्री मालिक निर्धारित करेंगे। फैक्ट्री मालिक मजदूरों को 12 घंटे रहने को मजबूर करेंगे, किंतु केवल 8 घंटे का ही वेतन… pic.twitter.com/p8EoBROElu
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 10, 2025
Thus, the claim is misleading.
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