Sri Lanka Employment Law

The normal working hours of a regular employee shall not exceed 8 hours per day. In any one week, working hours shall not exceed 45 hours.

Week means the period between midnight on any Saturday night and midnight on the succeeding Saturday night. An employer may not require an employee to have more than 12 hours to lapse between the time at which any person commences work or any day and the time at which he ceases work on that day. 

No male who has not attained the age of 18 years and no female shall be employed in or about the business of any shop or office for any period (including overtime and an interval for rest or for a meal) exceeding 9 hours a day. 

The daily hours limit does not apply to any person who holds an executive or managerial position in a public institution and who is in receipt of a consolidated salary the initial of the scale of which is not less than Rs.6,720 per annum. Shop and the Office Employees Act, 1956, Sec 3.

Recording Requirement

Every employer shall maintain in respect of each employee a service record substantially in Form F of the Schedule hereto, and a remuneration record containing the following particulars, for each period (month, fortnight, or a week, as the case may be, hereinafter referred to as the remuneration period) in respect of which remuneration is paid:-

• • • Remuneration period (month, fortnight, or week); 
    • The number of hours of work performed during the remuneration period; 
    • The number of hours of overtime work performed during the remuneration period; (i) Rate of remuneration payable; 
    • Allowances payable (each allowance to be shown separately); 
    • Gross remuneration earned for the remuneration period; 
    • All deductions made from the gross remuneration (each deduction to be shown separately);
    • All advances made out of the remuneration during the remuneration period;
    • Contributions made by the employer and employee respectively in respect of the remuneration period, to any pension or provident fund; 
    • The amount of balance remuneration paid and the date of payment;
    • The total amount of overtime remuneration paid in respect of each remuneration period; 

Every record shall be kept up to date by the employer and shall be preserved by the employer for a minimum period of four years.

Shop and the Office Employees Act, 1956, Sec 17

Overtime in relation to any employment or work means employment or work in excess of the normal working hours. Overtime shall not exceed an aggregate of 12 hours in any one week. 

Pay – No employee is required to work overtime, unless he is paid separately for such overtime work in respect of each hour, at a rate not less than 1.5 times the hourly rate of his ordinary remuneration. The remuneration payable for any part of an hour of overtime work done by him shall be determined in the proportion that part bears to the hour.

The hourly rate of remuneration for the purpose of computing overtime remuneration shall be as follows –  

• • • where remuneration is payable at a daily rate, be one-eighth of the daily rate,
    • where remuneration is payable at a monthly rate, be one-eighth of the monthly rate divided by thirty, 
    • where remuneration is payable at a fortnightly rate, be one-eighth of the monthly rate divided by fourteen, and, 
    • where remuneration is payable at a weekly rate, be one-eighth of the monthly rate divided by seven. 

In order to compute overtime in respect of work done in any week by any employee in excess of the normal maximum period of 45 hours, any day in that week on which such employee was on leave or on holiday, shall be deemed to be a day on which such employee had worked for the normal maximum period fixed for a day. Shop and Office Employees Act, Sec 6-9. 

An employee who has attained the age of fourteen years and who is a male, has not attained the age of eighteen years or is a female, shall not be employed in or about the business of a shop or office before 6 a.m. or after 6 p.m. on any day. Shop and Office Employees Act, 1956, Sec 10. 

Working hours shall not include any interval allowed for rest or for a meal. A rest break must be given to employees on the days that they work eight hours or more. Employees are not entitled to a rest break on a shorter working day. 

• • • If the employee’s working hours in a day constitute the hours between 11 am and 2 pm, the employee will be entitled to a break of 1 hour for a meal or rest break.
    • If the employees working hours in a day constitutes the hours between 4 pm and 6 pm, the employee will be entitled to a break of 30 minutes for meal or rest break
    • If the employee’s working hours in a day constitute the hours between 7 pm and 10 pm, the employee will be entitled to a break of 1 hour for a meal or rest break.

Every employee shall, on each day on which he is so employed, be allowed an interval of 30 minutes for rest or a meal at the termination of each period of 4 hours during which he has been continuously so employed. Shop and the Office Employees Act, 1956, Sec 9 & Schedule to Section 9

Weekly Rest Day

Every employee will be allowed one whole holiday and one half-day after for every week. Weekly rest will be allowed with full remuneration if the employee has worked for not less than 28 hours, exclusive of any period of overtime work, during that week. 

The holidays due in respect of any week shall be allowed either in that week or in the week immediately succeeding provided that the holidays so due in respect of any 4 consecutive weeks in any month may instead be, allowed in accumulation at any time in that month  (one full holiday being so allowed in lieu of two half-holidays so due).

Half-holiday means a day (as herein-before defined) on which that person is not employed for more than five hours, exclusive of any interval allowed for rest or a meal and any interruption.

Work on Weekly Rest – Any employee who is required to work on a weekly holiday is entitled to payment at the overtime rate, which is calculated at one-and-a-half times the normal daily wage. Shop and the Office Employees Act, 1956, Sec 5.