Should Employees Get Sunday Off If They Miss Work All Week? Let's Discuss!

Dear friends, I have gone through the discussions made among all of you. I believe that a weekly off is applicable when an employee has worked for six days. In my opinion, if an employee/workman is absent for six days continuously, particularly from Monday to Saturday, he or she should not be given Sunday as the weekly off. When he or she has not worked for a full week, there is no logic to give him or her Sunday as the weekly off. If Sunday is given as the weekly off, what will happen if he repeats this for the next week?

Thanks and regards,
Lovlesh Sharma

Dear Mr. Lovlesh Sharma,

No off is applicable for Sunday if a workman has not worked for 6 continuous days or more, particularly if he or she has taken leave or is absent from Monday to Saturday.

Regards,
Sushant Malik

Dear Lovlesh, First, determine under which labor law you are required to grant a weekly off day, i.e., Factories Act, 1948, The Minimum Wages Act, 1948, State Shops & Establishment Act, etc. Then, review the provisions related to the grant of a weekly off day under that specific Act.

With Regards,
R.N.Khola

Dear Ravishank,

It is not merely a matter of providing only Sunday as a weekly off or both Saturday and Sunday. The question is whether someone who has not attended the office for an entire week, i.e., Monday to Saturday (all working days), should be granted a weekly off or not, considering they have not worked a single day in that particular week. If Sunday is granted as the weekly off, then all four Sundays should be granted as weekly off, even if the person has not worked a single day in a month.

I understand that the weekly off is intended to provide rest to an employee after working 5 or 6 days, as applicable. However, if an employee has utilized all six days, what is the point of granting another day as a weekly off, especially if they have no leave left?

Regards,
lk

Dear All,

There is no need for employees to take everything for granted. They are supposed to work for the organization. Continuous leave without intimation will create many problems in the organization.

In my opinion, from Monday to the next Monday, only Sunday's salary should be deducted. If an employee works from Monday to Saturday and returns on Monday, there is no need to deduct his weekly off.

Regards,
Soja

Dear Lovelesh,

As per the Haryana and Punjab Factory Acts, if an employee works from Monday to Friday and is absent from Saturday to Monday, in that case, a weekly off will not be given to him. However, if your company is a manufacturing unit, you will need to establish a policy. Some companies use different rules. In my company, if a workman works 4 days in a week, we will pay him a weekly off. In this case, Saturday to Monday does not matter.

Regards,
Bijender Sharma

Dear Lovelesh,

Your question is not complete. Your previous post and this post, along with some replies from other community members, take the real problem totally astray.

The question should not be about a weekly off but weekly PAID off. Your question seems to relate to contractual employees or the labor force. If your office or organization is closed on Sunday, would you ask the contractual employee to come to the office/organization and sit there without work to claim his/her wages, as he would not have worked continuously for six days prior to that Sunday? Since your office/organization is closed, neither would he come to your office, nor would he be paid for that off if he has not worked for six days prior to that Sunday. But, if he has worked for 6 days prior to that Sunday, he would be entitled to a fully paid off for the 7th day of Sunday without having worked. One more thing, if there is any National holiday, like Republic Day, Independence Day, or Gandhi Jayanti in that week, and he has worked the other 5 days of the week, he would be entitled to the paid weekly off of Sunday, in addition to the National Holiday.

But if your organization or factory is of a type where the work continues even on Sunday, there would be no question of an off particularly on Sunday. If the contract employee has worked for 6 days even up to Tuesday (including Sunday), he will be entitled to claim a fully paid off on any day of the next week after Tuesday or another week by accumulating his days off as per the provisions of the concerned Factories Act, Minimum Wages Act, or the Shops and Establishment Act, as the case may be.

So, it would be better for you to go through the relevant provisions of the Act and Rules applicable to your organization and State to be a perfect HR man.

Regards,
PS Dhingra
Vigilance & Transformation Management Consultant
Dhingra Group of Management & Educational Consultants
New Delhi

Dear Lovlesh,

I believe that not giving Sunday as a weekly off to an employee who hasn't worked on Saturday or Monday compels the employee to take leaves during the weekdays (Monday to Saturday), which is harmful to the company's business and work efficiency.

Therefore, please consider that punishment is not a solution to the problem. Penalizing with pay cuts creates frustration among employees and hinders their diligence in work.

Regards,
Pramod
Technical Head (Regional)
IIJT Computer Education Limited

Dear Lovelesh,

Sunday is the weekly off. If an employee/workman has not worked or has been absent for six days (Monday to Saturday), the weekly off will still be applicable.

Now, if he repeats this the following week as well (from Monday to Saturday), in that case, you can treat Sunday as absent again if you have the policy of "Count Intervening Weekly Off." In this scenario, he will be treated as absent for 13 days.

Regards,
For TMi System and Solution
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Dear Lovlesh Sharma,

Firstly, can you explain to me how Sushant Malik was able to leave a comment using your same ID? ;)

Thank you.

Employee Leave and Weekly Off Clarification

For your question, if an employee takes a whole week off, he/she is not given another week off as it is their regular weekly off. It is understandable if he/she takes leave for the whole month.

Now, regarding your question about the employee repeating the same behavior. As a prospective HR personnel, would you keep such an employee in your organization? Don't you know the methods of handling such employees?

I don't think this is a valid question posted.

• In a week, generally, one particular day is declared as a weekly off.
• In the majority of organizations, the weekly off is one particular day applicable universally, which is mostly Sunday, and the organization remains fully closed on Sundays. Even if somebody wants to work on Sunday, it may not be possible.
• In some organizations, because of the very nature of the business, different employees or different departments may have different weekly offs. However, in this case, weekly offs are pre-decided, and each employee is aware of his or her weekly off well in advance.
• It is again a well-accepted practice that one can start and end leaves with weekly offs, and weekly offs will not be counted as leave. However, weekly offs intervening the leaves are treated as leaves.

To conclude, a weekly off is fixed for an individual. While deciding whether it will be treated as leave or not, the rule explained in the earlier point will be applied.

Thanks & Regards

In my opinion, if an employee is absent for one week (Monday to Saturday), let's first gather information from the employee about their absence. Even if they are not responding, give them a final warning letter and issue a termination letter. There is no need to provide a weekly off to such employees.

Regards,
Venkat Kumar
Officer - HR
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Dear Mr. Bijendra Sharma,

Okay. I agree that if a workman has worked for four days in a week, he should be allowed a weekly day off. I also agree that he should be given a weekly day off even if he has worked for just a single day in a week. However, if he has not worked the whole week, why should he be allowed a weekly day off? In my opinion, a weekly day off is meant for rest to recover from tiredness and to attend to personal tasks throughout the week. I am not sure about the laws on this matter, but if a person hasn't worked a single day in a week, granting them a weekly day off would equate to giving them 52 Sundays off if they haven't worked a single day in a year.

Regards,
LK Sharma

Dear Mr. Bijendra Sharma, I agree that if a workman has worked for four days in a week, he should be allowed a weekly off. I also agree that he should be allowed a weekly off even if he has only worked for a single day in a week. However, if he has not worked the whole week, why should he be allowed a weekly off? In my opinion, a weekly off is meant for rest to recover from tiredness and to attend to week-long personal tasks. I do not know what the law says, but if a person has not worked a single day in a week, giving them a weekly off is equivalent to giving them 52 Sundays off if they have not worked a single day in a year.

Regards,
Lk Sharma

Dear L K Sharma,

Till now, you have not clarified to the members under which act you are to provide a weekly off day.

With Regards,
R.N.Khola

Dear Lovelesh, I'm not getting your query clearly, but I'll try to understand you. Suppose a workman was present from 1st March to 3rd March (Monday to Wednesday). After that, he was not available for duty until 31st March. Now, how can you give him a weekly off continuously? You should not allow him any weekly off in the month of March because he was not present during that period. I have over 400 employees in my organization, and we follow this rule.

Thank you.

Dear LK Sharma, I hope that you are in a position to clarify the applicability of the Act. Therefore, considering that your establishment is covered under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, you are not required to grant a weekly off day with pay if the employee is absent even for a single day during the week. Please refer to your State Minimum Wages Rules on the subject. If the Central Minimum Wages Rules are applicable, then refer to Rule 23 for this query. You will find the answer.

With Regards,
R.N. Khola

Quote from Lovlesh Sharma:
Dear Khosla Ji, Ours is a private limited company in Delhi with a staff strength of 8. I hope you can clarify now.

Thanks and regards,
Lovlesh Sharma

Please consider the following points to decide on your query:

- Assume Sunday is the Weekly Off, and the worker has not worked from Monday to Saturday. If your organization remains 100% closed on weekly offs, then even if the worker offers to work on Sunday, he will not be in a position to work. You will have to decide whether Sunday is to be treated as Paid Weekly Off, Paid Leave, or Absent.

- If your workers are employed on a Daily Rated Wages Basis, then your problem is easily solvable. You are paying wages only for the working days and not for weekly offs.

- If your workers are employed on a Monthly Wages Basis, then you are treating Weekly Offs as Paid Weekly Offs. For paid Leaves and Absence, I suggest following the commonly practiced rule: Weekly Off at the beginning and/or at the end of the Leave/Absence will be treated as Paid Weekly Off, but any Weekly Off intervening Leave/Absence will be considered as Leave/Absence.

- By applying the above rule, you will not have to treat 52 Sundays as Paid Weekly Offs if a worker has not worked for a single day in a year, as all 52 Sundays will intervene Leave/Absence.

Thanks & Regards

Please clarify whether, according to the Factory Act, a weekly off or any holidays should be given if one continues on earned leave from Monday to Saturday.

Dear Sir,

In my opinion, an employee or worker should take advantage of the weekly off on Sunday if they have been present for four working days in the week, with one of those days being either Saturday or Monday.

In another instance, if an employee or workman attends duty for 3 or 4 days in the week, for example, from Monday to Thursday, then takes leave on Friday and Saturday, and again on the following Monday, should the Sunday in between be considered a "leave" or a "weekly off"?

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Dear Bijender Sharma,

Thank you for providing insights on the rules regarding the applicability of a Sunday weekly off as per the Industrial Establishment Act of 1946. The criteria for determining the eligibility for a weekly off include the number of days an employee is present in a week. If an employee is present for three days in the week and is present on either Saturday or Monday, then the weekly off is applicable. However, if the employee is present for three days but is absent on both Saturday and Monday, then the weekly off is not applicable.

Regards,
SK Sharma

Dear Pooja ji,

As per your queries, any employee present Monday to Thursday, and absent on Friday, Saturday, and Monday will be considered to have continuous absenteeism. In this situation, Sunday will be considered a leave day and not a weekly off.