Worked example: six weeks before commissioning
Rakesh is an ITI electrician at a site near Bhadla on a gross of ₹27,000. Spread over a 30-day month, his gross gives ₹900 a day and ₹112.50 an hour, so an overtime hour at a multiplier of 2 is worth ₹225. The project plan asks for two extra hours a day, six days a week, for the last six weeks: 2 x 6 x 6 = 72 hours. If he works all of them, his overtime for the push comes to 72 x ₹225 = ₹16,200.
Day to day, ZeniaHR's nightly check reads each punch-out after shift end, ignores anything under 30 minutes and rounds the rest down to the quarter hour. The site in-charge approves each week's claims after matching them with the daily progress report, and HR approves second.
Consent and caps before the push starts
Collect written consent from every worker on the overtime plan before the push begins, not on the evening it is needed. Set a monthly cap that respects your state's notified limits, and check the plan against it: two hours a day for six days is 12 hours a week. Rotate the extra hours across crews rather than relying on the same six fitters, and stop live electrical work at dusk however close the deadline is.
- Signed consent from each worker before the push
- Monthly cap checked against the planned hours
- No live DC or AC work after ten hours on duty
- Weekly offs still given, or credited as comp-off when worked
Plant call-outs at night
At an operating plant, an inverter trip at 2 am means a technician walks from the camp to the inverter room and works until it is back. He did not punch, so the hours come from the plant's fault log: from 2:10 am to 4:40 am is 2.5 hours. HR adds those hours as an overtime input for the month, or credits comp-off if that is the plant's rule, at one full day for every 8 hours. The technician should start late the next morning; a tired person on the next fault is the real risk.
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- Turn the overtime policy on so hours after shift end are counted, and route every claim to the site in-charge first and HR second.
- Use a 30-minute threshold and round claims down to 15 minutes, so small overruns do not clutter the approvals.
- Enter multipliers of at least 2 for normal working days, weekly offs and holidays.
- Set a monthly cap per worker and review it against the commissioning plan before the push begins.
- Take night call-out hours from the plant's fault log and pay them through an overtime input, or give comp-off if the plant prefers time off.
- Approve each site's claims in bulk once a week, after matching them with the daily progress report.
Read more about overtime in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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How is overtime worked out for a solar site electrician?
Start with what one ordinary hour is worth: the gross day rate divided by 8. For Rakesh, ₹27,000 spread over a 30-day month is ₹900 a day and ₹112.50 an hour. Each overtime hour at double rate is then ₹225, so the 72 hours of a six-week commissioning push add up to ₹16,200.
Can site workers refuse overtime during a commissioning push?
Yes. The OSH Code allows overtime only with the worker's agreement and pays it at double the ordinary rate. Plan the push with volunteers, collect written consent in advance, spread the hours across crews, and never treat a refusal as a disciplinary matter.
Is comp-off a fair substitute for overtime pay at remote sites?
It works well for whole weekly offs worked during the push, because crews can take the days together as a longer home break after commissioning. For extra hours on normal working days, pay the overtime. When total hours cross the legal limits the law expects double pay, so read your state's notified rules before trading pay for time off.