Section – 24. Welfare facilities in the establishment, etc.
(1) The employer shall be responsible for providing and maintaining in the establishment such welfare facilities for employees as may be prescribed by the Central Government, including—
(i) adequate and suitable washing facilities separately for male and female employees;
(ii) bathing places and locker rooms separately for male, female and transgender employees;
(iii) facilities for keeping clothing not worn during working hours and for drying wet clothing;
(iv) sitting arrangements for employees required to work in a standing position;
(v) canteen facilities in establishments where one hundred or more workers, including contract labour, are ordinarily employed;
(vi) in the case of mines, medical examination of employees before employment and at specified intervals;
(vii) adequate first-aid boxes or cupboards with contents readily accessible during working hours; and
(viii) any other welfare measures considered necessary by the Central Government for ensuring a decent standard of life for employees.
(2) Without prejudice to sub-section (1), the Central Government may also prescribe provisions relating to—
(i) ambulance rooms in factories, mines, or construction sites employing more than five hundred workers;
(ii) medical facilities, uniforms, raincoats and similar amenities for motor transport workers at operating centres and halting stations;
(iii) adequate and separate shelters or rest rooms and lunch rooms for male, female and transgender employees in factories and mines employing more than fifty workers, and in motor transport undertakings where employees halt overnight;
(iv) appointment of welfare officers in factories, mines or plantations employing two hundred and fifty or more workers, including their qualifications, service conditions and duties;
(v) provision of free temporary accommodation for building workers at or near the work site, including removal or demolition of such accommodation and restoration of land obtained for this purpose;
(vi) payment of accommodation expenses by the principal employer where construction work is carried out through a contractor; and
(vii) any other prescribed matters.
(3) The Central Government may make rules for providing crèche facilities with suitable rooms for children below six years of employees at appropriate locations in establishments where more than fifty workers are ordinarily employed:
Provided that such establishments may avail common crèche facilities provided by the Central Government, State Government, municipality, private entities, non-governmental organisations, or through shared arrangements among multiple establishments.