Gujarat Permits Women in Night Shifts – With Safeguards
Draft Amendment to Rule 11 of the Gujarat Shops and Establishment (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2020
At a glance
Issued by | Labour, Skill Development and Employment Department, Government of Gujarat |
Statute | Gujarat Shops and Establishment (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2019 – Section 39 |
Instrument | Gujarat Shops and Establishment (Amendment) Rules, 2025 (draft) |
Notified / Published | Dated 19 May 2026; published in the Gujarat Government Gazette (Extraordinary), Vol. LXVII, Extra No. 141, on 11 June 2026 |
Status | DRAFT – open for objections and suggestions for 30 days from the date of publication |
Comments to | Deputy Secretary (Labour), Block No. 5, 6th Floor, Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar / ds-labour-led@gujarat.gov.in |
What has changed
The Government of Gujarat has issued a draft notification proposing to substitute Rule 11 of the Gujarat Shops and Establishment Rules, 2020, in its entirety. The new Rule 11, titled “Conditions for employment of women in night shifts,” enables any shop or establishment covered by the Act to engage women workers between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., provided a set of safety and welfare conditions is met.
This brings Gujarat in line with the broader national direction—reflected in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020—of moving away from a blanket prohibition on women’s night work towards a conditional, safeguard-based permission. For employers, the practical effect is a clear, compliance-led pathway to deploy women across night operations in retail, services and similar establishments.
The nine conditions for women’s night work
Women may be employed during the night (9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.) subject to the following conditions:
Condition | |
1 | Written consent of every willing woman employee must be obtained in Form-J. |
2 | At least three women employees must be present (the count may include an on-site woman employer, if any). |
3 | Adequate transport with a GPS tracking system must be provided to pick up and drop women employees at or near their residence. |
4 | Bio-data and police verification of every driver of the night transport vehicle must be obtained, whether the driver is engaged directly or through a service provider. |
5 | Toilet/washroom and drinking-water facilities near the workplace, with CCTV surveillance and proper lighting (including passages to conveniences). |
6 | Provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, as applicable, must be complied with. |
7 | The employer must file a self-declaration in the new Form-J1 with the concerned inspector, confirming the facilities and a duty of care for the safety, security, and dignity of women employees. |
8 | No adolescent may be employed (whether as an employee or otherwise) in any establishment during the night. |
9 | Failure to comply with these conditions attracts a penalty under Section 29 of the Act. |
Forms – consent and self-declaration
Form-J: the written consent of each woman employee willing to work at night.
Form-J1 (new): a self-declaration, inserted after Form-J, to be filed by the employer with the concerned inspector. In it the employer certifies that all prescribed conditions have been met, that no woman has been engaged at night without written consent, and that the establishment holds the necessary labor-law licenses and permissions—with an acknowledgement that any false or misleading statement invites legal action.
What employers should do
• Map current and planned night operations to identify where women are, or could be, engaged between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
• Build the safeguards: documented written consent (Form-J), a minimum of three women on site, GPS-tracked transport, driver bio-data and police verification, CCTV, lighting, and toilet/drinking-water facilities.
• Confirm POSH compliance—a constituted internal committee and a functioning policy—as it is expressly tied to night-shift eligibility.
• Prepare to file Form-J1 with the concerned inspector once the amendment is finalized.
• Review transport vendor contracts to push the GPS, verification and bio-data obligations onto the service provider, and retain records.
Practitioner’s note
This is a draft. It is not yet enforceable and will take effect only on publication of the final rules. Until then, employers and industry bodies have a 30-day window to file objections or suggestions—for instance, on the minimum-three-women requirement or the cost of GPS and CCTV infrastructure for smaller establishments.
We have also noticed a few apparent drafting slips that the Department may correct before finalization: the amendment is captioned as the “2025” rules though published in June 2026; the POSH Act is cited as “14 of 2023” whereas it is Act No. 14 of 2013; and the enabling clause reads “in excise of the power” in place of “in exercise.” These are worth noting if comments are submitted.
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