Marriage Leave Waivers: Which Companies Offer Them and for How Long?

Hi all,

I have this question: Does a company provide any waiver on leaves for an employee during his marriage? Please let me know the names of the organizations that follow this practice and the duration for which the waiver is extended. I need to submit details to my firm to enhance our leave policy.

Response awaited.

Warm regards,
Geeti

Dear Geeti,

As far as I know, every person who is employed takes leave to get married. All companies have this system. A person is entitled to enjoy his due leaves, whether casual or earned leave, as per his requirement with prior sanction. In the case of marriage, every employer allows the employee to use the leave he is asking for.

Regards,
SC

Hi Geeti,

Organizations where I have worked never had any separate leave for marriage purposes. An employee can always take earned/privilege leaves as mentioned by Swastik. However, in the case of an employee not having a credit of EL/PL, some organizations give advance EL/PL so that the employee need not worry about loss of pay, at least during marriage! :D Would like to know the trend in other organizations as well! Maybe in BPO, it could be one of the retention strategies.

Most organizations have a marriage gift policy! :D

Regards,
Anuradha

Hi,

Leave of any kind is either a matter of terms and conditions of employment or an appropriate law. The law provides what the employer is bound to follow. Entitlements granted as terms and conditions of employment depend upon the policy of the particular company. In Indian conditions, mostly all organizations do not grant "special" leave to an employee for their own marriage. Therefore, as others have mentioned, one has to use their own leave.

Normally, the terms and conditions are uniformly applicable to all employees or at least to employees in the same class of employment. Granting entitlements of this kind to unmarried employees could be seen as differentiation without justification by married employees, potentially leading to stress in the organizational situation. Perhaps for this reason, employers generally avoid extending such fancy privileges.

Regards,

Samvedan
September 13, 2006

Dear Geeti,

Let me put it this way, as per rules, if an employee has accumulated leave or is entitled to take leave, he/she can avail it with prior sanction. On the other hand, if the employee does not have any accumulated leave, it is totally up to the company to decide whether to give him/her special leave sanction. As the name "special" suggests, it is solely up to the management to decide to whom it should be given and to whom it should not be given on a case-by-case basis, without creating a precedent. Most reputed companies follow a uniform policy and grant these leaves on a case-by-case basis depending upon the urgency and genuineness of the case. It is not only for marriage but also applies to death cases. Some companies I know even ask whether the employee has any plans to get married in the near future.

Regarding Samvedan:

"Normally, the terms and conditions are uniformly applicable to all employees or at least to employees in the same class of employment. Therefore, to grant this kind of entitlement to unmarried employees could be construed as differentiation with no justification by the married employees, and such differentiation would lead to stress in the organizational situation. Perhaps for this reason, employers generally avoid extending such fancy privileges."

I wish to say that married employees understand the situation very well, and I have never seen them putting forth any reservations regarding special leave for marriage. Some employees will always be there who have a problem with everything, but the majority of them are sane, helpful, and reasonable. In the end, as Samvedan is saying, if married employees have reservations in the case above, it is an indication that your workforce is not happy with the company and is raising issues to voice their concerns.

Regards,

SC

I have joined a company and have been working with them for the past 8-9 months.

My Queries:

1. I have not taken any leave during the last 9 months, but recently, I got married and applied for 25 days of leave (for marriage purposes). HR has sanctioned only 12 days of leave and the rest of the days as loss of pay, even though I had 25 leaves in my account. Additionally, they have stopped my salary for the past 3 months.

2. I requested my company that after marriage, I would like to work in the day shift as I am not well on the health front. I was assured that I would be moved to the day shift after marriage. However, HR has now imposed a condition that I will be given the day shift only if I do not take leave for the next 3 months.

Due to the above reasons, I am mentally disturbed and not in a condition to continue with the organization.

Request for Advice:

Can anyone please advise me on what I should do next and how I should handle the HR? HR is threatening me with a bond and relieving letter. So, is a bond legal in nature, and can HR stop an employee's salary for 3 months?

I have discussed the above queries with some of my friends, and they mentioned that it is illegal to freeze salary for 3 months and constitutes a criminal offense. If this is true, please provide me with the supporting labor act so that I can address this harassment.

Thanks