Bengaluru: Concerns have been raised by working women and employee representatives in Bengaluru over changes to Karnataka’s Shops and Commercial Establishments law that remove several statutory safeguards relating to the safety and security of women working night shifts.

The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2026 received the Governor’s assent earlier this month and came into force after notification. Among its changes, the amendment omits clauses 25(1)(h) to 25(1)(o) of the parent Act, which contained specific requirements concerning the transportation and security of women employees working during night hours.

The changes have triggered concerns particularly among employees in Bengaluru’s IT and IT-enabled services sector, where night and early-morning shifts are common because of overseas working hours.

What has changed under the amended law?

The omitted provisions dealt with a range of requirements associated with transporting women employees during night hours.

According to the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU), the provisions included requirements relating to driver background verification, authorised transport routes, protection of employees’ personal information and monitoring of vehicles used for transporting women workers.

Other safeguards cited in reports included provisions intended to prevent a woman employee from being the first passenger picked up or the last passenger dropped off. Requirements relating to security personnel, vehicle checks and emergency assistance were also among the provisions that have been removed, according to employee representatives.

The changes have therefore prompted a debate over whether the removal of these requirements could affect the level of statutory accountability placed on employers for night-shift transportation.

Why are Bengaluru employees concerned?

For many Bengaluru employees working in IT, ITES, business-process services and other sectors catering to overseas markets, working hours can extend well beyond conventional daytime schedules.

Employees travelling late at night or in the early hours may depend on employer-arranged transportation, particularly when public transport options are limited.

KITU has argued that specific statutory safeguards were necessary because the risks associated with late-night commuting are different from those during regular working hours. The union has opposed the removal of the provisions and has called for their restoration.

A recent report by Bangalore Mirror also highlighted concerns from women employees about practical issues involving company transport, including drop locations and vehicle arrangements. The report said employees had questioned the dilution of guidelines dealing with foreseeable risks during night-shift travel.

These concerns are being raised primarily from the perspective of employees and their representatives; they do not by themselves establish that workplace transport will become unsafe following the amendment.

Employee union seeks rollback

The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union has demanded that the government reconsider the amendment and restore the statutory safeguards.

KITU has said the deleted provisions provided specific protections for women travelling to and from work at night. The union has argued that removing such requirements could weaken employers’ statutory obligations relating to employee transportation and security.

The union has also disputed the suggestion that the removed protections are adequately covered through other proposed workplace-safety mechanisms.

The issue has consequently become a point of discussion among employees, unions and other stakeholders concerned with night-shift working conditions.

Safeguards that were earlier prescribed

Before the amendment, Section 25 contained several provisions governing the employment and transportation of women during night hours.

Among the measures cited in current reports were:

  • Verification of drivers responsible for transporting women employees.
  • Monitoring of authorised routes used for employee transportation.
  • Restrictions intended to prevent women employees from being the first pick-up or last drop.
  • Protection against unauthorised sharing of personal details such as phone numbers and addresses.
  • Security arrangements in specified circumstances.
  • Vehicle monitoring and random checks.
  • Mechanisms for emergency assistance.

The exact legal effect of the amendment needs to be distinguished from workplace policies that individual companies may continue to maintain. The removal of a statutory requirement does not necessarily prevent an employer from voluntarily retaining similar safety procedures.

Karnataka’s earlier night-shift framework

Karnataka had previously moved towards allowing women to work night shifts across sectors while attaching safety conditions to such employment.

In 2016, the state removed restrictions on women working night shifts across sectors, subject to conditions including written consent, separate facilities and arrangements for safe transportation. Contemporary reporting also recorded concerns from women’s organisations about enforcement of such safeguards.

The current amendment is therefore being viewed by employee representatives in the context of the safeguards that had developed around night-shift employment.

The debate is not about whether women can work at night. Women have been permitted to work night shifts in several sectors for years. The present concern centres on which safety requirements remain legally mandatory for employers after the 2026 amendment.

Government’s wider amendment

The 2026 legislation covers more than women’s night-shift transportation.

According to legal analysis of the amended Act, the changes also introduce measures aimed at simplifying regulatory compliance for shops and commercial establishments. These include digital registration-related changes, provisions concerning service certificates and restrictions on employers retaining employees’ original documents. The amendment also revises penalty and compounding provisions.

The removal of certain Section 25 requirements is therefore one component of a broader amendment to the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act.

Supporters of regulatory changes may view simplified compliance as beneficial for businesses, while employee representatives have focused specifically on the implications of removing night-shift safety provisions. These are separate aspects of the legislation and should not be conflated.

What does the amendment mean for employers?

The legal change means that the specific provisions omitted from the parent legislation are no longer part of the statutory framework in their earlier form.

However, companies can continue to maintain their own transportation and workplace-safety policies. Individual employers may have internal requirements covering driver verification, GPS tracking, security personnel, emergency response systems and employee drop procedures.

For women employees, the practical question will therefore also depend on the policies adopted and implemented by their respective employers.

The amendment does not automatically determine how every company will operate its night-shift transportation system.

The broader Bengaluru workplace issue

Bengaluru has a large workforce employed in sectors that operate around global time zones. As a result, employees may begin or finish shifts during hours when roads, public transport services and commercial areas have fewer people.

Employer-provided transportation has consequently become an important part of night-shift arrangements in several sectors.

The current discussion highlights the distinction between statutory protection and company-level policy. When a requirement is prescribed by law, employees and regulators have a defined statutory framework against which compliance can be assessed. When a measure exists only as an internal company policy, its implementation depends on the employer’s own rules and monitoring mechanisms.

This distinction is at the centre of the concerns raised by employee representatives.

Debate likely to continue

The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Act, 2026 has already come into force, but the concerns raised by employee groups indicate that the discussion over night-shift safeguards is likely to continue.

KITU has called for restoration of the deleted provisions, while reports on the amendment have also noted that the government has made several other changes to the regulatory framework governing shops and establishments.

For Bengaluru’s working women, the immediate issue is how employers implement transportation and safety arrangements in practice and what mechanisms remain available for raising concerns or seeking assistance.

Conclusion

The Karnataka government’s 2026 amendment to the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act has removed several specific statutory provisions governing the transportation and security of women working night shifts. Employee representatives, including KITU, have raised concerns that the change could reduce statutory safeguards for women travelling during late-night hours.

At the same time, the amendment is part of a wider restructuring of the law covering regulatory compliance and employee-related provisions. The practical impact on Bengaluru’s working women will depend not only on the amended legislation but also on the night-shift policies, transport systems and safety mechanisms maintained by individual employers.