Why is OT work necessary for women in Sri Lanka?

Originally appeared on the Morning

By Sumhiya Sallay

‘Overtime work for women’ is a topic that is not touched upon much in Sri Lanka, however, it can bring an array of benefits to women and our economy. It can improve financial security by providing an additional source of income and provide the next generation of women and girls with more opportunities to work and increase economic participation and improve productivity. 

Given Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis, there is a dire need for a dual income role in lower-income and lower-middle-income households. As Sri Lanka navigates through this economic crisis, where high levels of inflation have significantly reduced the purchasing power of the public, one earner is no longer sufficient for a household. This is where the need for laws that provide more opportunities for women are needed. 

The freedom to choose a job, a place of work, and how long to work are all decisions that should be given to every employee, whether male or female. However, in certain private sector industries in Sri Lanka, female employees do not have the legal right to choose overtime work, while male employees can [1]. 

Legal safeguards needed for overtime work

It is important for a country to have laws that support women so that women are given the choice and freedom to work in order to support themselves and their families. The World Bank’s ‘Women, Business and the Law 2021’ report states that when economies are more equal, they become more resilient [2].

It also highlighted the need to safeguard women’s economic rights under the law [3]. When laws are discriminatory against women, it makes it much more difficult for them to remain in the workforce. Therefore, it is vital for countries to enable laws that are more supportive towards women. 

The report, which captures the laws and regulations that restrict women’s economic opportunities, indicated that Sri Lanka scored 65.6 out of 100 in the ‘Women, Business and the Law’ 2021 index. Overtime work restrictions are also among one of the various discriminatory laws identified in Advocata’s report on ‘Gender Discriminatory Labour Laws in Sri Lanka and Female Labour Force Participation’. 

In Sri Lanka, women above the age of 18 are not allowed to work for more than nine hours per day (45 hours per week) within a five-day workweek, with an exception provided for female employees employed in residential hotels, clubs, and other places of entertainment or in any shop situated at an airport where they may be employed until 10 p.m. under specific conditions [4][5]. However, male employees are entitled to work for up to 12 hours of overtime per week (on a five-day work week). This discrimination towards female employees prevents them from working overtime. 

Although a practice known as administrative relaxation exists where the law is relaxed to allow women to work overtime, it is not recognised by the law [6]. Due to this, issues arise where employees who have worked overtime are not provided compensation for the hours worked overtime by the employer. Therefore, not having a formal, legally recognised law or regulation for overtime work discourages employees from working overtime. 

Furthermore, having laws that are not supportive towards women, especially discriminatory overtime laws that prohibit women from working overtime prevents them from having an extra source of income. 

Benefits of enabling overtime work

Given the current situation in Sri Lanka, with the high inflation rates, more income generation is needed and increasing female labour force participation by having supportive laws will give women the opportunity to earn more and also be financially independent. In return, women can increase their household spending on items that will enhance a country’s growth prospects by changing spending in ways that benefit children’s nutrition, health, and education [7].

Overtime work can not only benefit female employees but also benefit employers as it increases productivity and contributes towards the overall economic development of a country. The economies of both developed and developing countries would greatly benefit from increasing female labour force participation if women participate in the labour force at the same rate as men, work the same number of hours as men, and are employed at the same levels as men across sectors [8]. 

Overall productivity will increase if employees’ skills and talents are used more fully. There are several studies that have been published on how much more productive an economy could be if it took full advantage of the potential of its women workforce [9].

As more women enter the labour force, economies have the potential to grow faster in response to higher labour inputs. Women’s supply of labour increases household incomes, which helps families escape poverty and increase their consumption of goods and services. 

In Advocata’s report on ‘Gender Discriminatory Labour Laws in Sri Lanka and Female Labour Force Participation,’ key reforms and recommendations that need to take place in order to allow women to work overtime are highlighted. 

These recommendations include removing the restriction on overtime work under the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act No. 19 of 1954 [10] and introducing a regulation to allow women to work overtime. In order to support this regulation, we also recommended that certain guidelines be included within the law to prevent the exploitation of excessive overtime. 

References

• Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) (SOE) Act No. 19 of 1954.

• Women, Business and the Law 2021, (Washington: The World Bank, 2021).

• Women, Business and the Law 2022, (Washington: The World Bank, 2022).

• Subject to conditions under the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) (Amendment) (No. 32 of 1984), Section 2A.

• Employment In Terms Of The Shop And Offices Employees’ Act Monograph No. 17 (Rajagiriya: The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, 2016), 13.

• Employment In Terms Of The Shop And Offices Employees’ Act Monograph No. 17 (Rajagiriya: The Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, 2016), 13.

• Ana Revenga and Sudhir Shetty, ‘Empowering Women Is Smart Economics’.

• McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), ‘The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth,’ (2015).

• McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), ‘The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to Global Growth,’ (2015).

• Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) (SOE) Act No. 19 of 1954, Section 3 (1)(3)(a).

Sumhiya Sallay is a Programmes Executive at the Advocata Institute. She can be contacted at [email protected]. The Advocata Institute is an Independent Public Policy Think Tank. The opinions expressed are the authors’ own views. They may not necessarily reflect the views of the Advocata Institute.