As per the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, what is the maximum number of hours an employee can ordinarily be required to work in a day, absent any overtime consent-based arrangement?

The OSH Code, 2020 fixes the ordinary daily working-hour limit at eight hours a day and forty-eight hours a week, a reduction from the nine-hour daily limit permitted under earlier enactments like the Factories Act, 1948. The Code permits flexibility through arrangements such as a four-day work week with up to twelve working hours a day (with worker consent), or a five-day week with 9.5 hours a day, provided weekly caps and rest-day entitlements are respected. Overtime beyond the prescribed limit is payable at twice the ordinary wage rate and requires the worker's consent. The Code also liberalises women's night-work conditions (7 p.m.–6 a.m.), subject to consent and employer-provided safety/transport safeguards.