In Ramesh vs. The Commissioner, Amrawati, 1996 ILIJ 55 it was held that the designation of an employee cannot be the sole basis for determining the status of an employee. It was also held that it is popularly believed that in order to dub the work as a "supervisory" the person concerned must have control over the subordinates, have power to sanction leave, give promotion etc. which are only some of the facets of the supervisory work. This is not the be all and end all of the term "supervisory work".

2) . In Mam Raj Vs. Management of M/s Shanti Developers and Promoters 2005 LLR 556 it was held by the Delhi High Court that dominant nature of work is to be seen to find out if it is managerial and supervisory.

3) Similarly, in Kirloskar Electric Company Ltd. vs. Govt. of N.C.T. of Delhi 2010 LLR 6 the Delhi High Court has held that nature of duties and not the designation of an employee is the main criterion to determine as to whether he is a workman or not.

4) if you were doing doing supervisory and managerial work of Software Development.then you would not be regarded as workmen 

Dear Sir,

Information technology (IT) industry in the State, which has enjoyed a blanket exemption from the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 for 11 years, will now have to adhere to the rules under this labour legislation.

The Labour Department has decided not to renew exemption from the Act, which the industry had sought.

This means that IT industries, like all other industries that employ over 100 workers, have to define “with sufficient precision the conditions of employment under them” and make “these conditions known to the workmen employed by them”.

The ITEC (IT and ITeS Employees Centre), a support group for IT professionals, and ITHI, a forum of women employees in IT and ITeS, had been campaigning against exemption from the Act.

Members of the two forums had campaigned against exemption as well as the proposal to extend the working-hour deadline for women employees from the existing 8 p.m. They had said that extension of working-hour deadline will only help IT/ITeS establishments to get away from their responsibilities of transportation and security for women employees till 10 p.m.

ITHI had initiated an online campaign and a petition with signatures from 700 women workers had been submitted to the Labour Secretary and the Labour Commissioner.

The Karnataka State Women's Commission had also raised objections to the exemption given to the IT industry from the law on the ground that it leaves wide ground for exploitation of women in the sector.

But are the employees willing to invoke the labour laws? yes not as a general way of life, but those who have resources and inclination to go against the management go to the labour courts;

Please go through the webpage (link provided below) on the labour laws, and find out for yourself, the effectiveness of our labour laws vis-a-vis IT domain; every action in the workplace attracts the labour laws, but invocation of these laws are not done on a regular basis;

• selection and appointment
• working hours — with an exception for women employees
• salary and emoluments fixation —- no industry standards exist; one employee does not reveal how much he is drawing
• perks and other benefits
• training
• holidays
• promotions
• deputations to overseas sites
• dismissal

The ‘unfair practice’ chapter of Indian Labour Law, is violated by the employer in every sense when it comes compliance with the laws

The employees accept the conditions of employment (which are apparently drawn in compliance with the laws) purely as a routine without questioning any terms; they are willing to put up with certain inconsistencies or irregularities without any demur because they do not intend to continue with the company for long; and he needs the present job to jump start his career to a higher level of job function; thus there is nothing like ‘loyalty’ as far as the employees are concerned;

For better understanding of implications of Indian Labour Law I suggest to you to read the discussion on the topic:

• ICLG: Employment & Labour Law 2016 - India - International Comparative Legal Guides
• Labour Laws in India Applicable To IT Companies

Person employed mainly in managerial or administrative capacity dose not consider a workman. Deny him work overtime, if he insist ask for over time, than only you can take recourse of court to claim over time pay.

If you are in workmen category law is in your favour. Otherwise not. 

However recently one PIL in same matter that is  long working hours , no overtime , inadequate leave and other services related matter in respect of some big IT firms like Cognizant and other has been filed in Madras High court.  And the good news is that court accepted the PIL and issued notice to all IT companies and to state to clear their stand.  

Wait for for some time. A big change may happen in IT industry following the court order  in any positive direction to service condition of employees .

You would be in the ambit of the labour laws, 

Firstly, are you a contractual employee?

secondly, Over time has to be paid, you are covered under the industrial dispute act. 

Give me more details, and hours you work for. I am sure you can send a notice to your employer.

According to Section 59 of the Act, no one is supposed to work beyond 8-9 hours per day and according to Section 51, no is supposed to work for more than 48-50 hours in a week.. 

Under Sec. 33, it is mentioned that for overtime, wages are to be paid at the rate of twice the ordinary rates of wages of the worker. The employer can take actual work on any day up to 9 hours in a 12 hours shift, but he must pay double the rates for an hour or part of an hour of actual work in excess of nine hours or for more than 48 hours in any week.

Sec. 14 of the Act, any worker whose minimum rate of wages is fixed with wage period of time, such as by hour, by the day or by any such period and if a worker works more than that number of hours, it is considered to be overtime. In case if the number of hours constituting a normal working day exceeds the given limit, then the employer will have to pay him for every hour or for part of an hour for which he has worked in excess at the overtime rate.

If the conditions mentioned in the offer letter is against the provisions of law then the same can't be made applicable to the employees even if signed and accepted by them

- Your case is not covered under the Labour Act as Labour Act is mainly to protect the labours who are working in factories and establishment. 

- But yes can be taken under the Industrial Dispute Act 1947 as stated below :

Section 2(s) defines workman as any person (including an apprentice) employed in any industry to do any manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory work, for hire or reward, terms of employment be express or implied and includes any such person who has been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in connection with, or as a consequence of dispute.

- If need any support feel free to connect with the offer letter and other details

Regards

Vivek Arya

You have rights as per the Labour law, the industrial disputes act, the minimum payment wages act etc are applicable to IT industry like other industry only few sections are exempted from it.

You don't come under the definition of labour as per Industrial dispute act 

But you can surely file a suit against the company in civil court for compensation of overtime work along with compensation for harassment you are suffering due to company policy. 

The Indian Information Technology companies for a very long time enjoyed an exemption from the basic rules and obligations which are imposed on the companies regarding employment of workers. The Indian IT industries were exempted from the Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act, 1946. But now after the government had refused to extend the exemption the IT Industries just like the other industries it will have to follow the obligations regarding the conditions prescribed by the government and will have to precisely describe the government regarding those conditions and will have to make sure that the workers and employees are not only informed about it but are also allotted those conditions.

Almost all the labour laws which are applicable to any other industry are also applicable to IT Industry.