Overtime for CA, legal and consulting firms

Who is in which group

Draw the lines before the season, not during it. Office assistants, typists and drivers who stay back with the tax team are the clearest overtime cases. Semi-qualified accounts staff may also count as workers, depending on their duties and pay. Managers and qualified professionals are generally kept outside overtime by policy, and article assistants are trainees whose hours follow their training rules. Take advice where a role is unclear, then write the groups into the policy so nobody argues about it in September.

Worked example: an office assistant in September

An office assistant earns a monthly gross of ₹15,600 on a 26-day basis. His gross day rate is ₹600 and his hourly rate ₹75. In the last three weeks of September he stays back with the tax team for 18 hours in total after rounding. At twice the rate, his overtime is 18 x ₹75 x 2 = ₹2,700, paid with that month's salary. If the firm's monthly cap is 20 hours, all 18 count. Had he worked 24, the four hours above the cap would still be owed, so the cap should stop the work being assigned, not the pay.

Comp-off and travel for professionals and articles

For professionals and articles, the practical rewards are time and safety. Credit comp-off for Sundays and holidays worked, with an expiry that falls after the season. Reimburse late-night cabs after a set hour, for example 9:30 pm, through payroll, and arrange dinner on late nights. None of this replaces salary or stipend rules; it simply makes the season bearable and shows that the partners noticed the effort.

Approve and cap season hours

Let overtime be detected from punches rather than claimed on paper. The engagement manager approves it first, because only they know whether the late night was needed, and HR approves after. The legal overtime rate is double the ordinary wage, and a worker does overtime only by consent, so keep that consent on file for eligible staff. Review overtime requests every week of the season: anyone over the cap two weeks running needs work taken off their desk, not another approval.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. Turn overtime on in the policy settings: start counting after shift end, ignore anything under 30 minutes and round down to the nearest 15.
2. Set the working day, weekly off and holiday multipliers at two or above, with a monthly cap that matches your season plan.
3. Require approval so the engagement manager and then HR decide each overtime entry detected from punches, rejecting entries for groups outside overtime.
4. Credit comp-off through HR for Sundays and holidays that professionals and articles work, set to expire after the season ends.
5. Add late-night cab and dinner reimbursements as payroll inputs each month against the manager's approval.

Read more about overtime in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions