Understanding Labor Law Compliance and Leave Policies in India: Employee Rights and Policy Analysis

Hi,

The HR at my organization tells me that if I'm on Paid Leave (using my annual leaves) from any Friday to subsequent Monday and join back on Tuesday, it counts as 4 days of leave and not 2, counting Saturday and Sunday as leaves too (though in a normal week Saturday and Sunday are non-working days at my organization).

Does labor law in India prohibit such exploitation under any section of the law? Please let me know.

Thanks,
Rakesh

If you are taking paid Privileged Leave and Saturday/Sunday are considered non-working days, that is, not counted in the calculation of accruing PL, then they should not be considered as part of the deduction of your PL.

Perhaps you are talking about Earned Leave. Generally, intervening holidays during the prescribed Earned Leave are counted as part of Earned Leave. Prefixes and suffixes are allowed with Earned Leave.

Thanks,
SK

Thanks SK for answering, but I don't think it would be generally, at least not in the Software Industry. I have worked in 3 MNCs prior to this organization, and none of them had these weird and employee-unfriendly policies. On loose terms, isn't this a violation of the Shops and Establishment Act by clubbing two sections relating to one holiday per week and leaves earned as a result of continuous service? At least, it sounds unethical to me.

More than that, this is ridiculous for another reason. Even if employers find it to their benefit, this is not the case. I understand the motive that they want to discourage the suffix or prefix or both, but look at the flip side. What does it promote if I needed 4 days for an urgent work (or for that matter any work), and I planned to take a leave from Friday to Monday, and the above said leave policies make it count as 4 days leave? Then I'm better off taking 4 days on workdays (Mon to Thu) and then enjoy another 2 days of regular non-working days (Sat and Sun). So, while in the first case, the company was "actually" losing 2 days on Friday and Monday, in the second case, it's losing 4 days of work from an employee!

So, I don't find any merit in such a half-witted approach for organizations like this one. But I guess some people are so myopic they don't foresee policies are meant to be a guide for success and not to harass, and I think maybe such cases should be brought to the court's notice if they haven't been already.

Regards,
Rakesh