If any company wants to remove Casual leave and annual leave from their policies, how its gonna impact on the employer?

Hi Team, I would like to know if any company wants to remove Casual leave and annual leave from their policies, how its gonna impact on the employer?

Dear Deeksha,

"Leave" is a mandatory benefit of employment under labor laws as well as under service regulations pertaining to any other class of employees in all organizations. The term "leave" denotes "the leave of absence from work" granted to an employee by his/her employer with or without loss of earnings and without detriment to continuity of service due to certain reasons necessitated by inevitable circumstances subject to certain conditions. Thus, leave, as one among the conditions of employment, postulates one among the decisive and salient features of employer-employee relationship.

Therefore, if an employer adopts a "no leave policy" or removes certain kinds of leave suddenly and unilaterally, no doubt it would be a contravention under the provisions of the establishment-specific labor law applicable leading to prosecution and valid industrial dispute in this regard.

Hello Deeksha, I may add to what has been said by learned member,

I couldn't guess what prompted you to think in these lines. Human beings are social animals and animals will have their life cutout. In the evolution of human kind, everyone has reached a stage that “man does not live by bread alone”. Because man does not live by eating alone, he also has to make his life "meaningful". If eating alone is the only 'life', man should have stopped growing grains no more work. But after thousands of years of human life, we needed many things other than bread. We work, earn, eat, clothe but also have to do many other things. We are not machines, machine can be idle once switched off, it can remain as a machine. But man ? imagine and try to be idle, doing nothing. Don't speak, don't hear-laugh-weep-quarrel- fight-move around and so on. Try for a day, you can't. Even a mad man can't remain frozen. That's what social life means. We have certain duties to perform outside office work/duty. We don't feel like alright, unwell and attend functions, go for shopping, worship, travel. Family & domestic obligations to be fulfilled at any cost. Even a sage/hermit/recluse/eremite who renounced worldly affairs got some other duties to perform. And for that require off-duty and thus leave is availed. No matter you call it by any name. Why for instance, many units still don't have a kind called Casual Leave. But still, they would have EL or PL, Sick leave, Maternity leave etc. Yes, you are right, persons like peasants/farmers, freelancers will have no leave of these kinds but they may take 'leave of absence' from their routine. No approval from anybody would be required. They are not employees but professionals. So ultimately you have to shun the tag of 'employee', become a professional/self-employed to eliminate 'kinds of leave'. Will you ??

But every citizen has to abide by the law of the land and governance enabled/done by various pertinant regulations & stipulations to ensure minimum requirement. One among them is Leave policy. Policies may defer but leave stay-put in one name or the other.

Dear Umakanthan Sir,
In addition to what you have said, with due respect to you, I submit as under:
*Annual leave is mandatory as per Law.
*Casual leave is not necessarily mandatory. In certain states I found there is no provision of casual leave.
* When you give any thing to employees over the period of time, whether the same is mandatory to give or not, the same becomes compulsory to give and you can not stop it unilaterally.
* When you give any thing more than law and you wants to discontinue it now, you can not discontinue it unilaterally saying that it was more than the law.
* In the given case, annual leave can not be removed totally.
* Annual leave over and above the law, can be restricted to law. Casual leave can be restricted to law. But not unilaterally.
* Leave with wages and holidays related matters are enlisted at Sr. 5 in Schedule IV of the ID Act. Any change in the matters listed in Schedule IV of the ID Act has to follow 9A of ID Act.

Dear Deeksha ji
Avoiding casual leaves and Annual leaves to employees is against principle of natural justice and against labour laws. And under INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYEMENT (STANDING ORDERS) ACT 1946
IT IS THE BINDING FACTOR FOR ANY COMPANY WITH AUTHENTICATION BY THE GOVT.
SO AVOIDING C. L. AND ANNUAL LEAVES ARE AGAINST Labour Acts.

Dear colleague,
If your establishment falls within the preview of the Factories Act or State Shops and Establishment Act, you have statutory obligation to give leave with wages as provided. To think of withdrawing the leave benefits will have penal implications . This is abundantly brought out by the learned colleagues .
Therefore, any thought of its stoppage, is nothing short of perverse thinking. So better refrain from it .
Only small clarification,the Model Standing Orders under the Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act, provide for Casual leave rules. Besides some State Shops Act like Maharashtra also provide for Casual and Sick leave.
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR and Employee Relations Consultant