Bihar Shops & Establishments (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 2025

The Government of Bihar, vide notification dated 12^th August 2025, has officially published the Bihar Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2025. The Act focuses on amending and consolidating the laws relating to the regulation of employment and other conditions of service of workers employed in shops and establishments, and on matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The following are the key features of the Act:

1. Every shop and establishment employing ten or more workers shall apply for registration within six months from the date of commencement of its business and obtain a Labour Identification Number (LIN). Existing shops and establishments have to apply for registration within six months of the commencement of this Act and obtain the LIN.

2. No adult workers shall be required or allowed to work in a shop or an establishment:

• For more than nine hours in any day or for more than forty-eight hours in any week, working for six days in any week.

• For more than ten hours in any day or for more than forty-eight hours in any week, working for five days in any week.

• For more than eleven and a half hours on any day, working for four days in any week.

3. Every worker shall be entitled to seven days’ sick leave with wages in every calendar year, provided a medical certificate is submitted to the employer for the leave period.

4. Every worker shall be entitled to eight days’ casual leave with wages in every calendar year, which shall be credited into the account of the worker on a quarterly basis.

5. Every worker who has worked for a period of continuous service of two hundred and forty days or more in a shop or establishment during a calendar year shall be allowed during the subsequent calendar year leave with wages for a number of days calculated at the rate of one day for every twenty days of work performed by them during the previous calendar year.

6. Every worker shall be permitted to accumulate earned leave up to a maximum of forty-five days.

7. Earned leave shall be encashed at the time of separation.

8. In every shop or establishment wherein thirty or more women workers, or fifty or more workers are ordinarily employed, there shall be provided and maintained a suitable room or rooms as a crèche for the use of children of such women workers. Provided that a group of shops or establishments so decide to provide a common crèche within a radius of one kilometre, then the same shall be permitted by the Chief Facilitator, by an order, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order.

Please note: The State Government has not yet published the effective date of this Act, and upon implementation of this Act, the Bihar Shops and Establishments Act, 1953, shall be repealed.