Navigating Funeral Leave: How Many Days Should IT Companies Offer?

Dear Seniors, Please let me know if there is any clause in the labor laws for funeral leaves. If we want to offer this leave, how many days should it be for an IT company?

Thanks in advance.

Currently, no labor laws such as the Factory Act or the Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act have provisions for such leave. However, under the leave policy, organizations typically offer casual leave for various uncertain events such as death or emergencies. Personal leave (P.L.) can be availed for longer periods.

In the IT company where I am currently employed in Pune, we have both personal leave (P.L.) and sick leave (S.L.) as mentioned earlier. Employees can utilize these leaves for events such as those mentioned above.

Furthermore, organizations have the flexibility to draft funeral leave and paternal leave policies, with maternal leave falling under the Maternity Act.

While deciding the leave policy, you must fulfill the provisions of the Shops and Establishment Act of the state where employees work. You can offer more days than what the act specifies but not fewer.

Fringe Benefits and Management Prerogative

Paternity leave, funeral leave, and similar leaves are fringe benefits, and it is the prerogative of the management to decide the number of days. Be cautious when making decisions because withdrawing these fringe benefits can lead to a lot of discontent. Additionally, if a project manager is unable to spare a software developer due to work pressure, how will you handle this situation?

Regards,
DVD

In my view, such a type of leave is not provided by any of the labor laws. You can send five to six employees from his section along with the HR officer to attend the funeral process, considering the employees on duty. Alternatively, you could grant special leave for this purpose.

Regards,
R.N. Khola (LL&IR)
Welcome Skylark Associates

Adding to what other members said, there is only a provision for the payment of funeral expenses under the ESI Act, but not for leave.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai

I am not sure why any specific number of days should be marked for a funeral. Birth and death are inevitable events that occur in the lifetime of any individual (only varying depending on the number of people in the family), and there are no specific days marked. Let's all be humane about this, and we do not need any laws to govern us.

Organizations do allow employees to take leave, and in cases I know of, they have designated this as special leave exempt from any deductions.

Regards,
K.S. Chakradhar Reddy.

Hello Sir, I asked if we can provide any paid leave in such scenarios. That was my only intention.

While there are no provisions outlined by any statute, in the wake of the human approach that has become a prominent idea in management thought, organizations today offer flexible leave options in such emergency cases. I think the idea of CL (Casual Leave) is for routine requirements, and the idea of EL (Emergency Leave) is to accommodate emergencies like the one outlined here!

I have seen cases where the employee was allowed about two weeks of Emergency Leave, as it can affect one's life and family tremendously when a loved one is lost. This was clearly covered in the EL granted according to the terms of employment.

Regards,
Madhu_ratna