Balancing Election Day Paid Holiday with Client Deliverables in a KPO Setting: Is It Possible?

I am aware that the Day of Election has to be a paid holiday per the Act. My question to you is, we are a company in KPO with daily deliverables to clients across the globe. In this situation, is there an option to run the shift during the polling time to meet the clients' deliverables?

"It's a public holiday with wages," declared the election commissioner. This news was reported in The Hindu on 06.04.2011, page 4. The Government Order (G.O.) is also available regarding this.

For any further information, please email [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons].

Regards,

This is a long-pending debate whether a holiday is required on the day of the election. In my opinion, it is an absolute waste of time to have a whole day declared as a holiday. In our earlier organization, we used to give two hours permission during that day. Employees have the option to come 2 hours late in the morning or leave 2 hours early in the evening. They can even take a break in the middle of the day too.

Why can't the government consider having elections on a Sunday instead?

Balaji

Come on, Balaji. It's about choosing a leader or a group to decide our lifestyle for the next few years. Their policies, plans, and orders would definitely make a hell of a lot of difference. Having a day off would help to avoid unnecessary misuse of the voting opportunity. To give an example, my colleague came to work in Bangalore and went to vote at 4 pm, only to find that someone had already used his chance. Let's avoid these types of issues and vote.

The election day is not a declared holiday. If you have alternate information, I would appreciate a link to the notification. In any case, it's not a national holiday so you can work on that day.

The law requires you to allow employees to cast their vote. Polling booths start at 7 am. Anyone who needs to vote can do so at that time. We allow anyone who has voted (mark on finger required) to come in late by up to 2 hours.

Dear Antony,

Yes, it is everyone's responsibility to select their leader, and it is the responsibility of every citizen of India to cast their vote. However, if someone goes at 4:00 o'clock and finds that his vote has already been cast, it indicates a system failure. We have no fool-proof system in place to verify if the voter is the authentic person. There is no guarantee in the current system that even if you declare a holiday, your vote has not been cast by someone else.

It is merely a matter of a paid leave being declared for the IPL and nothing more.

Balaji

Dear Friends,

The government has declared April 13th as a paid holiday. The labor department has announced to all employers to declare a paid holiday on polling day as per section 135B of the Representation of People's Act. The same has been published in The Hindu newspaper on April 06, 2011 - Page No: 4. I am attaching the Government Order for your reference. However, working on Election Day is a bit risky, but I see many companies that continue working.

- Babu

Hi, I am aware that the Day of Election has to be a paid holiday per the Act. My question to you is, we are a company involved in KPO with daily deliverables to clients across the globe. In this situation, is there an option to run the shift during the polling time to meet the client's deliverables?

Working on Election Day

Being a paid holiday, you are allowed to engage employees as per your need to work on that day. They can avail the leave on some other day as compensation. Also, they should be given permission for an hour or so to cast their votes.

Regards,
Renuka

Mandatory Paid Holiday for Elections in Tamil Nadu

Direction has been given by the Commissioner of Labour, Tamil Nadu. It is mandatory for every employer in Tamil Nadu to grant a holiday with wages on 17-Oct-11 and 19-Oct-11 to every person employed by them. Therefore, the employers of Shops & Establishments are required to grant a holiday with wages on the date of the poll to their employees entitled to vote in the local body election.

Regards