At a time when job losses are on the rise worldwide, the pre-Budget Economic

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Survey has suggested doing away with the rule of procuring prior government permission to retrench employees and simultaneous increase in compensation for the laid off.

The survey has also suggested amendments to the Factories Act and Contract Law.

Presently, a retrenched employee is given 15 days of wages for every year of service as compensation. Further, a company has to get permission from the government before laying off a person as per the Industrial Disputes Act.

"This (permission from the government) needs to be removed with simultaneous increase in compensation from the present 15 days wages for every year of service," the survey noted.

Moreover, the report has called for amendments in the Factories Act to increase the work week to 60 hours and daily working hours to 12, to meet seasonal demand. At present, the work week is 48 hours.

"Factories Act needs to be amended to increase work week to 60 hours (from 48 hours) and daily limit to 12 hours to meet seasonal demand through overtiime," the report said.