Sick Leave in India: Can Employees Request It for Future Dates, or Is It Just for Emergencies?

Hi, Case- Employee raised a future date sick leave (SL), and management rejected it on the grounds that sick leave cannot be a future date, and the employee has PL, so he should raise PL.

In India, sick leave is only for illness/medical emergencies, or its definition is much broader.

Can an employee take future date sick leave? Do we have any legal rule for this?

There is nothing wrong in doing so because sick leave is not restricted to treatment as an outpatient. There may be instances where the date of operation or treatment as an inpatient is fixed in advance, and the employee may take sick leave in advance. That attitude of the employee should be respected.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Leave for medical causes/sickness varies in different types in different companies. Usually, if sick leave is 6-8 days in a year, then it is to be used for 1 day, 2-day sickness, etc. If your company has a provision for Medical Leave, then it is a future planned leave for operations, surgeries, treatments, etc. In this case, as per your company's policy, if an employee has more paid leave (PL), then ask the employee to take PL and not to mark it as sick leave if there is no quota for sick leave.

Yes, you can, but as per the law, sick leave should be used for that purpose and can be taken for planned operations, etc.

Dear White Eagle,

The question you have raised can be read in two different ways. Let me clarify:

Either the application is submitted in advance for sick leave occurring at a later period; OR an employee applies in advance for sick leave to which he/she is not yet entitled.

Let me deal first with the second possibility. It is entirely up to the Company to decide on granting the employee sick leave that has not yet accrued and adjusting it against future entitlement. No rule or law covers this.

In case of the first scenario, one can well imagine situations of planned hospitalization due to occur in the future. If hospitalization for operations or other prolonged treatment is not treated as meriting sick leave, then I really wonder what would. By and large, sick leave is meant to cover illnesses, hospitalization, etc., but not festivals, celebrations, marriages, vacations, etc. (if that is what you sought clarification on).

Regards,
Gerry303

Understanding Sick Leave Policies

Sick leave is incorporated into leave rules as a welfare measure; hence, it cannot be demanded as a matter of right.

Secondly, sick leave is meant to tend to sickness after one has fallen ill. It cannot be taken in advance, even if one needs to see a doctor.

Dear Members of CiteMan discussions,

I am a doctor in a sugar industry in South India. Medical leave in advance may be intimated to the issuing authority, in my case, a factory medical officer, who is under the HR department. However, committing a leave on an ML form or by a written memorandum before the employee's sickness has to be decided by the doctor in charge. The same must be intimated to the time office and the personnel department. Daily mails of the sick employee must be reported to the department head of the person availing sick leave, and the reason must be intimated to the head of the department or department in charge, or shift executive. I keep my department updated regularly by emails so that if a person on shift is absent, another worker to handle the process can be decided in advance by the concerned department. This is how we operate, and it keeps our shift executives/managers of respective departments posted so that they can plan their manpower.

Dr. T.V. Venkataramanan.

Thanks for your inputs. There can be cases where both parents are working, and when kids become ill, they have to take leave. I want to know if employees can take sick leave to address their own short-term illnesses or the short-term illness of a family member as well.

An employee can avail of Sick Leave (SL) only if he or she is sick; the same doesn't apply if any of his or her family members are sick. If that's the situation, then he or she has to apply for Casual Leave or Earned Leave to take care of them.

Regards,
Babu

Yes, an employee can take sick leave for a future date if they are certain and apply with a doctor's recommendation for bed rest, etc.

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