Applies to this profile · Night work needs consent, safety, transport

Women workers

Night work, maternity, equal pay.

The 2025 amendment changed Odisha's position on women working at night. The blanket prohibition is gone; what replaced it is a power to permit, not a permission.

Not yet verified against an official source

Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1956 (Odisha Act 30 of 1956)

Night work — the prohibition: Adolescents onlyThe principal Act barred “No woman or an adolescent” from working at night. The substituted section bars only adolescents.Section 23, as substituted by section 10 of the Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2025 — Odisha Act 01 of 2026, Odisha Gazette Extraordinary No. 203 of 16 January 2026, in force from 8 November 2025
Night work — women: Not yet addedThe State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, allow women to be employed at night with their written consent and subject to prescribed conditions of safety, security and dignity. No such notification has been found, so whether women may lawfully be employed at night in Odisha today is not established here. The repeal of the old bar is not by itself a permission.Section 23A, inserted by section 11 of the Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2025 — Odisha Act 01 of 2026, Odisha Gazette Extraordinary No. 203 of 16 January 2026, in force from 8 November 2025
After childbirth: No employment for six weeks following deliverySection 24
Children: No child may work in any establishmentSection 22

Internal Committee: Every workplace with 10 or more employees constitutes oneSexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
Smaller workplaces: Complaints go to the district's Local CommitteeSexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013