Is It Fair for My Company to Deny My Vacation Leave for Educational Purposes? Seeking Advice on LOP Policies

Hi, can anyone solve my below query?

Our company allows 2 vacation days and 1 sick leave day per month. I currently have more than 25 days of vacation leave. When I applied for a vacation leave of 20 days for educational reasons, for which I had taken an educational loan that I need to repay from my salary (this was also communicated to my superiors), I was inquiring about the leave sanction until the day before I applied for leave. The response I received was neither positive nor negative. I mentioned that the leave was urgent, and after informing, I took leave from the office. However, upon my return, they stated that the company does not grant permission for vacation leave, citing that the course I was undertaking was not in line with the company's development.

Is this fair? Shouldn't they have informed me that the leave would not be approved before the day I had applied for leave, considering I had applied a month before the start of my studies? Is this not a way of betraying the employee who has been dedicated during tough projects, contributed fully to achieving company targets, and worked tirelessly to meet goals? Is this not considered rude behavior?

Also, could you please let me know the situations in which an LOP (Loss of Pay) can be granted?

Thanks,
Srin

Hi Srin,

This is really unfortunate. I know what you must be feeling. Many companies do these kinds of things without realizing the harmful effects of such incidents. Mostly, these things happen in small companies. I think your boss should have considered.

Anyways, what options do you have? Right now, you cannot do anything. But I am sure you will be demotivated over this. And companies talk about attrition - day in and day out. As I can understand, you are at the initial stages of your career. Keep these things in mind and don't allow this to happen with juniors when you become a senior professional. India still needs practically feasible and appropriate labor laws. Let's hope for the best.