Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2022-08-08

Amending the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act No.19 of 1954

- At present, a host of businesses such as Knowledge Process Outsourcing Institutions, Business Process Outsourcing Institutions, Back Offices which handle accounts, administrative and technical activities of institutions located in other countries and Businesses Institutions enabling Information Communication Technology services have been established in major cities of the country. Owing to the nature of such businesses, the employees employed therein have to work according to the time of those countries. However, according to the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act No.19 of 1954, only limited number of employments are allowed for female employees to work after 6.00 pm. Under this backdrop, existing restrictive legal provisions regarding the employment of women at night have found to be amended. As such, the proposal made by the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment for taking necessary action to amend the Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act No.19 of 1954, was approved by the Cabinet.