Train Delays in Mumbai: Should Employees Be Penalized with Leave or Given a Pass?

Recently, there was an issue with the trains on the Central line in Mumbai. Consequently, some employees were unable to report to work. Should this be considered as leave, or should it be waived off due to the genuine problem? Please advise.

Regards,
Mini

It is solely at the discretion of the management. Generally, organizations do not declare leave to keep their annual working days intact, and the risk of commuting is vested with the employee unless they have access to company transportation facilities.

Hence, it is not compulsory to declare leave, and you can do so on humanitarian grounds and for the welfare of employees. When I was in charge of the administration, I used to ask those employees who could not attend duty on some other holiday to compensate.

Regards,
Ganesh

This incident has already occurred, so the question is not whether leave should be declared or not. The question is: should the two employees who didn't come to work be given full attendance for the day, or should it be considered as leave.

Regards,
Mini

You can speak to their immediate supervisor and your boss and ask them about the same. Try to get the reply via email regarding whether it should be considered as a full-day leave, half-day leave, or if it should be compensated against any weekly off.

It is not a natural calamity, so the employee could not attend the office for reasons beyond control. It is not an event that universally affected other employees either. It is only a problem on the central line, which undoubtedly rendered commuting risky for two days. There was also an alternative transport system provided by BEST services, though they were crowded. The employee, considering these factors and using wisdom, decided not to take any risk and to remain at home. The company cannot find fault with the employee's decision and mark him as ABSENT. Therefore, following the common practice and norms of the leave policy, the employee shall be asked to submit a leave application for the days he remained absent due to the above problem, and he shall be sanctioned leave by debiting his leave account. The company can declare a holiday in such circumstances, as in the case of a natural calamity or riots, where the whole area is affected, and all establishments located in the said area are affected.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Thank you for your explanation on how this should be handled. In case the employee does not have leave to his credit, can the management ask him to compensate work for the leave taken?

Thanks,
Rk

Handling Employee Absence Due to Train Disruptions

This is very simple. You can consider their absence as leave to which they are eligible. If they have no leave at their credit, you can sanction Leave Without Pay (L.O.P) or else Leave Not Due (to be deducted from future leave) as a gesture towards employees.

Regards

You can have the following two options:

1. You can sanction him leave without pay or LOP.

2. Since privilege leave is an earned leave, you can calculate his PL prorata based on the number of days he actually worked from January until the date prior to his absence. Then, sanction him the leave and adjust it against PL when you credit his leave account at the end of the year. I hope Mr. Suri Babu also meant the same by calling it "leave not due."

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai

[QUOTE=malikjs;1840345] I also agree with the views of B Sai Kumar. I agree, but if an employee gets late to work for two to three hours, then that should not be considered as a half-day because he/she tried and reached the office.

Thanks & Regards,
Pankaj