60-year-old Kajal limps a little when she walks. She credits it to the 12-hour shifts she’s been doing for six days a week for the past 24 years at Pothys, a prominent clothing store in Chennai. The varicose veins bulging on her legs have handicapped her forever. When the pain becomes unbearable, she takes an injection and gets back to work. “Chairs in the showroom came only about two years ago. I worked standing for over 20 years. So now also I prefer to stand,” she said.

It is not uncommon to find exhausted staff dozing off in their showrooms’ washrooms or staircases. When asked why she came to the washroom to rest, Mahe, who has been working at the store for eight years, said, “Outside, the cameras will spot us. Here, there is privacy.”

In 2021, two years after years-long agitation granted workers in Kerala the right to sit, the Tamil Nadu government amended the Shops and Establishments Act, 1947, introducing a similar legal provision meant to ensure that every retail and showroom worker has a seat to rest on during work hours. A walk around shops in Chennai has revealed that, in several places, this rule is yet to be followed. Meanwhile, at some stores where provisions have been made for the workers to sit down, rest feels more like benevolence than a right.

Meena, who has been working at Trends clothing brand for over four years in different parts of the city, says that she has to ask for permission to sit down in between work hours (9 hours, 6 days a week). When asked how she manages when she is on her period, she says, “When I can’t stand anymore, I take painkillers and ask the store manager (a man) for permission to sit in the lunch area. Otherwise, I just take leave.”

Yasmin, working in Smart Bazaar for over 9 years, has a similar story to tell. She says, in her nine hour shifts, the only times she gets to sit are during a 30-minute lunch break and later a 10-minute tea break.

Even more concerning is the plight of those given no chairs. 28-year-old John from Manipur has been working at an expensive coffee outlet in the city for 4 years now, and has never had a chair where he works standing. “In coffee shops and all, how will they do their jobs sitting down?” asked a labour inspector in Mylapore when told about John’s situation. “It’s not practical,” she added.

After five years of the 2021 amendment to the Shops and Establishments Act, the right of employees to rest is still being neglected in many establishments. Many establishments, while violating the 48-hour work week rule, also ensure that the staff do not relax. Under Section 22A of the Act, it is mandatory for employers to “provide suitable seating arrangements for all employees so that they may take advantage of any opportunity to sit which may occur in the course of their work and thereby avoid a ‘on their toes’ situation throughout the working hours.”

Still, Sai is on his toes throughout his 10-hour shift at the billing section at a PVR Cineplex in Royapettah. When he feels the need to rest, he goes to the washroom. Are there chairs in the washroom? “No,” he smiles.

Employers who do not comply with the rules can be fined under the law. Repeated violations warrant heftier penalties, and labour inspectors are supposed to check these arrangements during routine visits.

One visit to the outlet of a popular coffee chain at the Express Avenue (EA) mall’s basement, and it’s hard not to notice the five to six elderly women squeezed inside—washing, cooking, wiping, and billing. There is not a single chair outside or inside the outlet, which has barely enough space for all of them to stand comfortably. Their operational manager, Manoj, claimed that, in their line of work, chairs are a hindrance. So, where will these women, working 10-hr shifts with various ailments, sit when they get tired? He says they can sit behind the outlet, pointing to an even more cramped space, with one stool amid several water cans.

‘A pro-employer dept.’

“Unlike in Kerala, sales workers here are not organised. Most of them shy away from talking to unions. And the labour department here is absolutely useless. They are pro-employers,” said AITUC Tamil Nadu General Secretary M. Radhakrishnan.

While Reliance, the parent company of Trends and Smart Bazaar, did not respond to questions from The Hindu, the PRO at PVR said she’ll look into it.

Pothys said, “Employees have to work for only 7-8 hours daily. If they punch out later, they are given overtime allowance. They get a day off every week. And if they work on these offs, they are paid for those days in addition to their normal pay. Compensation offs can also be availed.”

When approached regarding the lack of seating arrangements for some workers in retail outlets in his circle in Royapettah, Labour inspector Narayanan reasoned: “The nature of their work is such that they will have to stand. Also, will customers like it if salespeople sit down between work?” He says he did inspect the EA mall quite recently, but the above-mentioned examples had escaped his notice.

“Will definitely look into it,” he had promised. Over a month on, the old women crowding the cramped outlet, John at the high-end coffee place and Sai at PVR, all still stand.

(The names of all retail-staff mentioned in the copy have been changed over privacy and job security concerns.)