New Delhi: As the new draft rules for the Code on Wages allow the Union and state governments to decide the normal daily work hours, labour economists and workers’ representatives fear that this might lead to exploitation of workers, particularly gig and platform workforce.According to The Telegraph, labour experts have warned that the provision gives governments the discretion to extend the length of a normal workday well beyond existing norms, currently fixed at eight hours. They cautioned that this flexibility could be used to notify workdays stretching up to ten or even 12 hours.Moreover, critics pointed out that this concern persists even though the draft rules under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code continue to prescribe a 48-hour workweek, as was the case earlier. They pointed out that the absence of a daily cap effectively weakens worker protections built into the weekly limit.One possible outcome, they said, is that daily wage labourers could be required to work extended hours, such as 12-hour shifts over four days, with employers rotating in a different set of workers for the remaining days of the week. Platform-based workers, including food delivery personnel and service providers like cleaners or barbers deployed to private homes, could similarly be compelled to put in longer hours resulting in exhaustion and serious health risks, the experts warned.Notably, this could also impact factory workers paid on a weekly or monthly basis. For instance, employers may schedule longer shifts on certain days without paying overtime and compensating by offering additional rest hours on other days to remain within the 48-hour weekly ceiling.The draft rules state: “The number of hours of work that will constitute a normal working day inclusive of one or more specified intervals shall be as per general or special order, issued from time to time.” Labour is a concurrent subject. States typically adopt the Union government’s rules, making only limited changes.“Though the government has kept 48 hours as the weekly working hours, the lack of clarity on the daily work hours can be (exploited) by the state governments, which may notify up to 12 hours of work a day,” labour economist Shyam Sundar, an adjunct professor at the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, told The Telegraph.“Prescribing the weekly hours of work and leaving the daily hours of work to notifications creates uncertainty for both the employers and the workers in terms of planning and management,” he added.Similarly, Nirmal Gorana, national coordinator of the Gig and Platform Services Workers Union, was quoted as saying, “Even now, many platforms make the workers work more than eight hours a day. The government wants to help companies make workers work for 12 hours a day.”