The Government of Kerala has officially notified the Kerala Factories (Amendment) Rules, 2025, amending the Kerala Factories Rules, 1957. The notification follows the draft rules published earlier on May 13, 2025, under Section 115 of the Factories Act, 1948 and incorporates feedback from stakeholders.
The amendments primarily address:
- Classification of employees in supervisory or confidential positions.
- Maintenance of records for such roles.
- Extensive exemptions under Section 64 of the Factories Act, 1948 for specific work categories and industries.
The rules came into immediate effect FROM 27TH SEPTEMBER 2025.
🔍 Key Amendments in Detail
1. 🔧 Redefinition of Supervisory and Confidential Positions (Rules 108 & 109)
Rule 108 has been entirely substituted to define supervisory and confidential roles more comprehensively.
✅ Supervisory or Management Roles include:
- Managers, Assistant Managers, Department Heads
- Engineers, Foremen, Shift In-Charge, Supervisors
- Safety Officers, Security Officers, Industrial Relations Managers
- Roles in specialized sectors: Spinning/Weaving Masters, Rubber/Tea Makers, Coir Factory Supervisors, etc.
✅ Confidential Roles include:
- Timekeepers, Stenographers, Personal Clerks
- Staff handling personal files or service registers
- Persons declared confidential by government order upon request from factory managers
👉 Rule 109 mandates that every factory must maintain a list of employees falling under these categories, to ensure compliance with Section 64(1) exemptions.
2. 📄 Major Revisions to Worker Exemptions (Rule 110)
Rule 110 introduces an expansive Schedule of exemptions for adult workers under Sections 64(2)(a–e), 64(3), and 64(4) of the Factories Act, covering a wide range of factories and work types.
✅ Key Work Types & Industries Covered:
- Urgent Repairs: All factories and defence establishments
- Continuous Process Work: Chemical factories, petroleum refineries, bakeries, distilleries, paper and sugar factories
- Sector-Specific Tasks: Foundry, Boiler rooms, Rice mills, Beedi factories, Textile dyeing, Coir factories, Municipal water plants, etc.
- Special Operations: Engine rooms, transformers, hydrogenation, ice production, glassware manufacturing
📌 Highlights of the Exemptions:
- Exemptions apply to provisions under Sections 51 (weekly hours), 52 (weekly holidays), 54 (daily hours), 55 (rest intervals), 56 (spread over), and 61 (notice of periods of work).
- Stringent caps on working hours still apply—generally up to 56 hours/week inclusive of overtime.
- In cases of urgent repairs or unforeseen absence, overtime work is permitted with conditions like:
- Minimum rest intervals between shifts (8–16 hours)
- Prior or post-facto notification to the Inspector
- Restriction to male adult workers in certain cases
🎯 Objectives Behind the Amendments
The government aims to:
- Streamline classification of roles under supervisory and confidential categories
- Enable flexibility for factories dealing with emergency, continuous, or critical operations
- Maintain a balance between worker welfare and industrial efficiency
- Ensure record-keeping and compliance clarity for labour officers and factories alike
⚖️ Legal Basis
These changes are made under Section 112 of the Factories Act, 1948, following proper public consultation as per Section 115.
📢 Next Steps for Factories
- Update internal records to align with new Rule 108 & 109.
- Ensure compliance with the revised exemptions under Rule 110, especially in shift-based or emergency work environments.
- Notify Labour Inspectorates where required as per exemption conditions.
- Review workforce categorization to avoid misclassification and potential violations.
📝 Conclusion
With these amendments, Kerala joins other progressive states in modernizing factory regulations to better reflect contemporary industrial realities. While operational flexibility has increased, the state has retained a worker-centric approach by capping work hours and mandating rest periods.
These rules are expected to benefit sectors like chemical processing, textile dyeing, shipyards, food processing, electrical power plants, and more.