Balancing Extra Saturday Off: Can We Adjust Annual Leave Without Legal Issues?

Hi,

I am the HR of an IT firm that comes under Kerala's Shops & Establishments Act. We have planned to give one Saturday as a holiday. That means 12 days of work will be lost and it has to be compensated.

a) 13 days of Holiday - Cannot be changed as per labor law.
b) Casual leave - 12 days.
c) Sick leave - 6 days
d) Annual leave - 12 days.
e) Present working hours are 8 hrs - cannot be changed.

Can we reduce annual leave? Will it be against any law? Already, we are giving the first Saturday off and planned for the 3rd Saturday off, apart from the weekly holiday. Kindly suggest.

Thanks & Regards,
Divya

In my opinion, if these are the bare minimum statutory annual leave with wages, then we are not in a position to reduce this number. The law does not allow us to reduce one kind of leave and add another kind of leave.

Regards,
R.N.KHOLA