What a Shop Worker in Punjab Is Owed by Law

A shop worker in Punjab is owed forty two paid days a year before a single weekly holiday is counted. Fourteen annual, ten casual, eight sick and ten festival holidays, all on full wages.

Most shop workers have never been told any of it, because the law that covers them is not the one that covers factories, and almost nobody writes about it.

We read the Punjab Shops and Establishments Ordinance 1969 on 11 September 2026, in the text published by the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department, carrying its amendment of 2023.

The paid days, by type

The Ordinance says the weekly holiday is allowed in addition to the leave and holidays under sections 14, 15 and 16, so it does not come out of the forty two.

This is not the factory regime

People assume one set of labour rules covers everyone. It does not, and the difference matters most on sick leave.

Under the Factories Act, sick leave runs to sixteen days on half pay. Under the Shops and Establishments Ordinance it is eight days on full wages. Different length, different rate.

The Ordinance also gives ten festival holidays with full wages, and requires the employer to notify the days and dates to employees at the beginning of the calendar year rather than announcing them as they arrive.

Our guide to leave entitlement at work sets out the factory position. If you work in a shop, an office, a restaurant or a similar establishment, the figures above are the ones to check against your employer.

Unused annual leave does not simply vanish

Section 14 deals with what happens to leave you did not take, and it gives two routes.

Leave not availed in a twelve month period is added to the next period's leave. That accumulation is capped: once the total leave due reaches thirty days, no further accumulation is permitted.

The alternative is cash. At the employee's request, in place of leave not taken, the employer pays full wages for it.

There is also a payment timing rule people rarely invoke. Where leave of at least four days is allowed to an adult, the wages for that leave must be paid before the leave begins, not after the worker returns.

Hours, and the break you are owed

1. An adult may not be required to work more than nine hours a day or forty eight hours a week.
2. An adolescent may not exceed seven hours a day or forty two hours a week.
3. Nobody may work continuously for more than six hours without an interval of at least one hour for rest or a meal.
4. Overtime is permitted only for stock taking, accounts, settlement and similar operations, or as prescribed.
5. Total hours worked by an adult must not exceed six hundred and twenty four hours of overtime in any one year.

The one hour break is the clause worth remembering, because a six hour stretch behind a counter with no proper interval is common and is not what the Ordinance permits.

Every employer must also display a board at a prominent place in the establishment specifying the hours during which it will remain open.

Overtime is double, with one exception

Where an employee is required to work overtime as the Ordinance permits, the wages for that overtime are calculated at double the ordinary rate of wages payable to him.

One proviso limits it. No overtime is payable to a contract worker employed on a piece rate basis.

Our guide to overtime and working hours covers the wider position across workplaces.

Young workers and women

No child may be required or allowed to work in any establishment at all.

For an adolescent the Ordinance sets four separate limits. He may work only between 9:00 am and 8:00 pm. He may not work on a day he has already worked in another establishment. His hours must not conflict with the timings of the educational or vocational institution where he is enrolled. And he may not be allowed to work overtime.

For women, the Ordinance provides that except with the permission of Government, no woman shall be employed in any establishment otherwise than between 9:00 am and 8:00 pm.

Our guide to night shift rules for women covers how that question is handled in other workplaces.

Ending the job

Section 19 separates permanent from temporary staff and treats them differently.

To terminate a permanent employee, one month's notice in writing must be given, by the employer or by the employee. In place of notice, one month's wages are paid, calculated on the average of wages earned during the preceding three months.

A temporary employee, whether monthly, weekly or daily rated, and an apprentice, are not entitled to notice or pay in lieu. But the Ordinance adds a protection that is easy to miss: the services of a temporary employee shall not be terminated as a punishment unless he has been given an opportunity of explaining the charges against him.

So a temporary worker dismissed for alleged misconduct is owed a hearing even though he is owed no notice.

Our guide to gratuity and provident fund covers what else may be due when a job ends.

What the employer must provide

The Ordinance carries duties beyond pay and hours, added over time. It provides for daycare rooms for children, for a canteen, for separate toilets, and it prohibits the lifting of excessive weight. It requires records and registers to be maintained and the establishment to be registered.

Section 21 closes the usual escape route. Any contract or agreement, whether made before or after the Ordinance, by which an employee gives up a right under it, is caught by the contracting out provision.

So a signed paper in which a worker accepts less than the Ordinance allows does not settle the matter.

Inspectors are appointed under section 25 with powers under section 26, and penalties for employers sit in section 27. The Ordinance was amended by the Punjab Shops and Establishments (Amendment) Act 2023, so this is current legislation rather than a dormant one.

Our guide to workplace facilities and safety covers the equivalent duties elsewhere.

Common questions

How much paid leave does a shop worker get in Punjab?

Fourteen days annual, ten casual, eight sick and ten festival holidays, all on full wages, plus one weekly holiday.

Is sick leave the same as in a factory?

No. The Shops Ordinance gives eight days on full wages. The Factories Act gives sixteen on half pay.

Can unused annual leave be carried over?

Yes, up to a total of thirty days, or it may be paid out in full wages at the employee's request.

How long can a shift be without a break?

Not more than six hours continuously for an adult, without an interval of at least one hour.

What is the overtime rate?

Double the ordinary rate, except for a contract worker employed on a piece rate basis.

What notice is needed to dismiss a permanent employee?

One month in writing, or one month's wages in lieu based on the average of the preceding three months.

Last checked and sources

Last checked 11 September 2026. We downloaded the Punjab Shops and Establishments Ordinance 1969 (VIII of 1969) from the Punjab Code portal at punjablaws.punjab.gov.pk, in the text published by the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department, Government of the Punjab, and read it. Section 6 allowing one day of holiday each week in addition to leave and holidays under sections 14, 15 and 16, barring any deduction from wages for it, and requiring a daily wage worker to be paid for it and a piece rate worker to receive the week's average; section 7 requiring the employer to display a board specifying opening hours, barring continuous work of more than six hours for an adult without an interval of not less than one hour for rest or a meal, and providing that except with the permission of Government no woman shall be employed otherwise than between 9:00 am and 8:00 pm; section 8 limiting an adult to nine hours a day and forty eight hours a week and an adolescent to seven hours a day and forty two hours a week, permitting overtime for stock taking, making up of accounts, settlement and such other operations subject to a total of six hundred and twenty four hours in any one year, and barring an adolescent from working outside 9:00 am to 8:00 pm, on a day already worked elsewhere, in conflict with his educational or vocational institution timings, or on overtime at all; section 9 setting overtime wages at double the ordinary rate with a proviso that no overtime is payable to a contract worker employed on a piece rate basis; section 14 allowing fourteen days annual leave on full wages after twelve months continuous employment, allowing accumulation capped at thirty days, and allowing payment of full wages in lieu at the employee's request; section 15 allowing ten days casual leave on full wages a calendar year, ordinarily not more than three days at a time and not accumulable, and eight days sick leave on full wages a year carried forward to a maximum accumulation of sixteen days; section 16 allowing ten days festival holidays on full wages with the days notified at the beginning of the calendar year; section 17 setting payment at the daily average of the preceding three months and requiring wages for leave of not less than four days for an adult to be paid before the leave begins; section 19 requiring one month's notice in writing or one month's wages in lieu for a permanent employee, excluding temporary employees and apprentices from notice, and barring termination of a temporary employee as a punishment without an opportunity to explain the charges; and section 20 barring any child from working in an establishment, are all taken from that text. Sections 10-A, 21, 21-B, 21-C, 21-D, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 on daycare rooms, contracting out, canteens, excessive weight, separate toilets, records, registration, inspectors and penalties are referred to as published. The Ordinance carries amendments including by the Finance Act 2006 and the Punjab Shops and Establishments (Amendment) Act 2023 published in the Punjab Gazette (Extraordinary) dated 17 February 2023. Section 5 excludes certain establishments and persons and section 18 disapplies sections 14 to 17 to certain establishments; check those before assuming a particular workplace is covered. Labour is a provincial subject and this is the Punjab Ordinance. Nothing here is legal advice.