Hello,
It is almost a universal rule that an employee on probation cannot avail leave while on probation. However, there is no law that prohibits leave to be availed by an employee while on probation. Probationers are not granted leave for the simple reason that their association with the organization is yet uncertain.
Furthermore, the law (Factories Act) requires an employee to earn leave by putting in a certain amount of days worked actually to be done during the year, and the year is Jan-Dec for the purpose of leave under the Factories Act. If the situation is covered under the Shops Act, the principle remains but the periodicity is lesser. Here too the "earning" principle remains!
The thing to understand is that the law specifies "entitlement" and provides rules for "eligibility." While on probation, an employee may be "eligible" (because there is no bar) but is yet not entitled, and therefore, he is not sanctioned any leave as a matter of right!
The right thing to do as HR is to make a rule that even while on probation, leave may be granted (for satisfactory reasons, within norms of reasonableness) as LEAVE WITHOUT PAY (but AUTHORIZED) and when the employee has earned leave as per law/service conditions, to deduct entitlement by the appropriate number of days and pay for the days deducted when the leave was actually availed. But it is unfair to refuse to grant leave while on probation simply because he/she is on probation and to say that the rules do not permit. Even genuine reasons for the leave needed by the employee get neglected under a bureaucratic sweep, and that does not fit into my concept of HR philosophy.
Your question could have been answered simply, but I thought you should know the rationale that must be applied.
Cheers & Regards,
Samvedan
August 12, 2007