Hi SN,
This is not just a time office issue. There are other legal requirements which one has to follow, especially regarding the tax treatment. The decision on whether to keep employees on the home country roll or not depends upon the legal elements available in the host country. Double taxation is a difficult subject.
While we need to know more details about your organization, I will try to answer your questions with basic general information:
1. For example, a member who is presently working in India has been transferred out of India in the middle of the year, how and on what basis are the leaves calculated for them?
Ans: The first question to clarify is whether you are sending them on secondment or they are transferred to the other country. Employees are normally governed by local laws unless you are providing them more than the local law requires. Normally, you close the eligibility in the home country and allow prorated leave in the host country. Usually, for expat/international assignments, there are standard rules for holidays during the assignment.
2. Do they remain on our rolls?
Ans: It depends on what the organization decides. You can do both—transfer them to the host country rolls if you have an establishment there. This will reduce the liability for double taxation and the employee will be governed by local laws. In this case, the employee loses contributions to retirement and pension schemes (PF, Family Pension, etc., in India). The employee needs to understand this. If you keep the employee on your roll and pay the salary in India, you need to take care of tax liability in India as well as in the host country. If the assignment is for more than one year, it is advisable to transfer to the host country and bring them back onto your rolls once they return.
3. What about the benefits that they were eligible for while in India, for example, PF and Superannuation?
Ans: I am assuming you are talking about Indians assigned abroad. The new provisions of the PF Act do include these people if they are on the rolls of the home country, including foreign nationals working in India. Please go through the PF Act; you will find the answer in detail. The majority of retirement schemes are now defined contribution schemes, and therefore employees do not tend to lose due to a break in the contribution period (as long as this component of their compensation is taken care of in the host country compensation).
Example: We have our office in Sri Lanka. We have one Indian who has been transferred to Sri Lanka, and the other members working in the office are from Sri Lanka (local people only). In such a situation, what is the policy applicable regarding leaves and holidays for Indians and Sri Lankans?
Ans: It depends on what your organization wants and the duration of the stay of this Indian employee in Sri Lanka. You need to work on an assignment policy for your organization. If the assignment is less than one year, keep them on your rolls. If it is more, transfer them to the Sri Lanka Payroll and bring them back once they return. The continuity of service could still be maintained as the employee is part of the same group.
Hope this clarifies (though it is a complex subject). Feel free to interact with me at tayals@live.com, and I should be able to help you.