Is Deducting Leave for Late Marks Fair? Seeking Advice on Grace Periods and Legal Validity

Hi,

Please clarify, this is regarding the timely attendance of employees in our office. There is a circular issued by our administration department stating that one casual leave will be deducted for every two late marks, with no grace period given. Office timings are mentioned as 9.30 AM to 6.00 PM.

On what basis can we determine the grace period and how long should it be? How many late marks warrant the deduction of a casual leave, etc.? Is this procedure legally valid? Please advise.

Each company has its own HR Manual, and it is at the discretion of management to design and implement policies based on the nature of the business, skills of employees, influence of the environment, and the product/service being offered. Let's take an example of a Health Care Service Provider. If employees arrive late, this may affect the health of patients, or anything may happen to the life if even a small element of carelessness is shown in this particular regard. Therefore, policies have to be aligned with the organizational objectives to run the business while keeping in view the company's vision.

Hi Sreedhar,

I agree with Samia Qamar. I can say a few things on this. Depending upon the nature of your company, you may put a maximum of a 30-minute grace period. If this is exceeded, it leads to the loss of productivity for the company. I can't say whether it's legal or not, but to ensure proper work practices and a healthy environment, you have to introduce this so that employees can leave the office premises if there is no work. 🙂🙂

Dear Sreedhar,

Regarding my concern, late coming may lead to disciplinary action, but it should be done in a systematic manner.

For instance, if an employee is late by half an hour, then deduct 1 hour of salary. If the delay is 1 hour, deduct 2 hours of salary. For 1.5 hours late, deduct 3 hours of salary. In the case of a 2-hour delay, either deduct half a day's leave or 4 hours of salary.

However, for habitual latecomers, stronger disciplinary action may be necessary.

Thanks & regards,
N. Srinivasan

Hi,

You can also look at things a little differently. Maybe try to provide your employees with positive motivation to report to the office on time - perhaps through an award or reward. This could be monetary or non-monetary, depending on your management outlook and the urgency/importance of the issue of lateness.

You could consider organizing a special award ceremony (if you do not already have one) to reward those deserving employees who are consistently on time. An initiative like this could potentially eliminate the need for any real pay cuts, penalties, or excessive monitoring of office hours, as every individual's behavior is conditioned based on their motivation.

These are just my thoughts on the topic; I hope my contrarian approach didn't offend anyone's sentiments on the matter.

Thanks,
Noel Farias
Pune

The vision of the top management is to be clear in such cases. These circulars should be applied with a careful mind. Sometimes management applies double standards.

Dear Shridhar,

The facility differs according to the requirement or the working system of each company. Management need not consider grace time at all. But keeping in view various aspects, management can facilitate its employees. But it is not a must.

Of late, the practice followed in places of organized labor is a grace period of 15 to 30 minutes on a maximum of three occasions in a month. If any employee exceeds this, on the fourth occasion, the employee loses one day of casual leave, or some management may cut the salary for one day for every three occasions. For example, if the employee is late for six days, they will lose two days of leave or salary. It is considered to be a deterrent punishment for employees.

Regards,
Madhwa

Hi Sreedhar

I copy here my company policy for the late coming. May it will be some useful to you. RULES ON LATE COMING

Every employee of the company is expected to be present for the duty at his work place five minute before the start time i.e. 9.25 AM on all the working days.

However to accommodate the delay which may be caused due to various reason the following relaxation will be available to each employee With effect from 27.01.2009.

1. Grace period of 10 minutes will be available to each employee 3 times in a month without any deduction.

2. For delay of more than 3 times up to 10 times in a month will be deducted a salary of ½ day.

3. For delay for more than 10 times up to 20 times in a month full day's salary will be deducted.

4. For delay of more than 20 times in a month, the concerned employee will not be taken on duty without proper explanation, in writing with deduction of salary up to 2 days.

5. Proper explanation will be called from the chronic late comers and suitable action taken.

Rules on Short leave

The following rules will be observed on short leave.

1. Three half an hour either coming late or going early with the permission of the management will be exempted and no deduction will be made.

2. Between three to six such delay or leaving the duty early, half day's salary will be deducted.

3. Any employee requiring more than six such short leave will be required to apply for minimum half day's leave in advance.

Dear Friend,

As we are located on the outskirts of the city limits, we follow a specific procedure:

In case of a valid reason for an employee being late to work or needing to leave early before the scheduled time, it must be communicated to the immediate reporting authority and approval must be obtained using the Permission Slip provided below.

This allowance can be availed of for a maximum of 4 hours per month, which translates to a maximum of 2 hours in a day. Any time exceeding the 2-hour daily limit or 4-hour monthly limit will be considered as half a day's leave.

The permission for hours granted is solely for urgent situations and not meant to become a regular occurrence. Employees exhibiting a habit of tardiness or leaving the workplace early on a regular basis will be subject to disciplinary action.

Please note: The 2-hour permission mentioned above cannot be combined with leave to make up half a day.

Thank you.

Dear Sreedhar,

Generally, an organization's HR manual should include all these provisions. Late coming is usually allowed for 10 minutes from the beginning of the working hour, and this is permitted for 3 days in a month. Anything beyond 10 minutes shall be marked as LATE. All instances of late coming are then recorded and presented to the higher authority for action against habitual latecomers. This could result in deductions from casual or earned leave, as appropriate. These occurrences of late coming are also reflected in the Annual Appraisal form, where marks are allocated for Punctuality. Habitual latecomers will lose marks solely because of their habitual lateness, potentially impacting their annual increment. This process has assisted many organizations in promoting punctuality.

Thank you.

Hi,

This is quite an issue in each organization. First of all, depending on the consensus with higher management, make a late-coming policy. There are no legal provisions for latecomers. Once you decide on the number of latecomings that you wish to allow each employee, no grace period should be allowed thereafter. It is the responsibility of each individual employee to come on time to the office. Please note that whatever period of grace period you allowed, habitual latecomers will never be happy and will continue to ask for more and more grace period. It is okay to deduct leave or salary for latecoming after exemptions are exhausted.

Finally, please note that the HR department should not be interested in deduction or punishment, but they should continuously keep on trying for improvement by taking support of the late-coming policy, etc. Habitual latecomers should be punished so that justice is done to those who respect the company policy and are disciplined. Some consideration should be given to those employees who sit late for work and do not claim any benefit in lieu of that.

Regards

Dear Sridhar,

It is always better to keep sending a warning email/letter/memo on a monthly basis that latecomers would be punished, and you can punish them only when things go beyond the limit/control. If you punish them, their help may be required when you want things to be done. As long as the job gets done, just leave it, but again, it depends on the nature of service you are offering to the clients/products that you manufacture, as one of the gentlemen said rightly.

Thanks and regards,

V. Gnanamani

If a senior-level employee is late on some occasions, should he/she be marked absent? What motivates senior employees to complete their work even if they have to stay in the office a little longer? Should highly skilled professionals be tied to specific duty hours? What are the disadvantages of maintaining an attendance register for senior responsible and accountable officers? Here, the administrative manager keeps strict vigilance over the attendance register and marks employees of equal rank as absent. Does this enforce discipline or demotivate employees?

Dear Members,

I have to adjust 48 working hours in a week, and according to staff, they need Saturdays off. Let me inform you of the scenario: we are construction project managers in Karachi, Pakistan. Our working hours are from 9:00 a.m. to no limit. The company is not well-organized by Partners, in case of the staff, and has spoiled them – no line managers, no department heads, just one-man departments. HR is considered as Martian. Our CEO is very keen to provide a friendly environment, but he can't recognize that he has already provided a home-like environment. There are no checks and balances; technically, staff is committing blunders but are still the stars in his eyes.

He wanted me to ask the staff about the work timings through a questionnaire. I was reluctant, but anyway, I did that and suggested some options (Questionnaire attached). Now, as they have given their viewpoint, he is not accepting anything. He says he wants to go for the easy procedures, but he cannot decide on any matters, and I wait for his signatures on every single document. We don't have an HR Policy because he makes changes and does not recognize them (Such a Confused Guy).

Suggestions required.

Hi Sreedhar,

Time management policies vary from company to company. Grace timings can be set up to 09:37, meaning 7 minutes without penalty, and up to 09:50, 20 minutes charged at double the rate/single after 06:00. The out time will be 06:40 with double penalty, and if the penalty is single, then it's 06:20.

Khushnood

Hi,

I am sending our company policy regarding latecoming as an attachment file. I have been using it and found it very effective.

Sincerely yours,
Prithvi Pal

Only a 15-minute grace period can be demanded in such a case. HR has the full right to deduct your leave on the occasion of two late comings.

Dear friend,

I need urgent help to write a letter or notice to all my staff, individually informing them that their salary will be deducted due to unexplained absences for the year 2009. In the letter, I need to communicate that we will deduct their salary or annual leave for 2009 if they do not reply after receiving this notice. If you have any templates available, please let me know or email them to me. I really need this urgently.

Thanks a lot.

User input: But is it legal because if we do this with the latecomers, they can raise their voice. I need to ask, is it covered in any Act or just?

Thanks in Advance
Nisha

Dear Sreedhar,

Even in my company, we had the same policy of salary cutting. Then, despite several complaints, a grace period of 10 minutes was given considering the traffic, etc. If the staff exceeds the grace period, then the salary cutting was applicable.

As our friend Samia rightly said, each company has its own HR policies, and it should be discussed with the management for a right decision.

Regards,
Philo

I am the new HR in my company, and I wanted to know how to write warning letters or memos to people who are coming late. Please reply to me immediately.

Hi Sir,

How do I email all employees for the same-day information regarding leave, which will result in marking them absent for 2 days if not well? So, when they rejoin the office, they should bring along a medical report.

Please help.

@Prithvi Pal Singh,

Thank you for sharing the Late Coming policy with us.

What would be the pro-rata salary deducted for Leave Without Pay within a particular month under the heading of Deduction of Monthly salary?

What is the legal position, act, or rule specifying the penalties leviable on employees for coming late or being absent without leave.

We are a small company with just 1-2 staff and have no formal rules or policies framed.