Is It Fair to Ask Employees to Work on Ganesh Chaturthi Due to Bharat Bandh?

Hi All, please help me. Ganesh Chaturthi is mentioned in our holiday list, but my boss is asking me to send an email to all the employees stating that tomorrow is a working day, as the day after tomorrow is Bharat Bandh. Is this correct?

Regards,
Neha

No. Once a holiday is mentioned in Form V, we do not need to change that procedure. In case you need to work on that day, you must obtain permission/approval from the labor department as per your circle. Additionally, you must provide double wages to the staff or employees who are working on that day.

Another way of handling this issue could be to ask your boss to select another later day to compensate for closing on the bandh day.

Regards,
TS

Since you have already declared a holiday and also informed the Inspector of Factories, you have no right to change it on your own. If you ask your employees to come for duty, you have to pay them holiday wages. Therefore, you can declare a compensatory holiday on Thursday (Bundh day) and ask them to compensate on the following Sunday. Most companies are following a similar practice.

Regards,
Alphonse

It is very simple. This Ganesh Chaturthi holiday is entirely different, and your company might have declared it as a Festival Holiday and confirmed it with the Labour Commissioner's Office during last year's December itself.

However, this Bharat Bandh is to be declared as a holiday. You can further inform that to compensate for this holiday, the organization will work on the second or fourth Saturday. If those days are not holidays, then the compensatory working day may be on Sunday.

Regards

I don't think that they have declared anything in the labor commissioner's office because just three months ago, we framed this holiday list. Let's see—I will speak to my boss about this. Thanks for your quick reply.

Regards,
Neha

Whether you informed the labor department or not, your employees may know that Sri Vinayaka Chaturthi is a holiday. Then, they will ask for double wages on that day if they work.

Regards,
Alphonse

Whether it's a startup company or not, once a holiday is declared, you must abide by it. You cannot come to the office and work, keeping a festival at home.

Advise your boss to compensate for this day on any other day rather than tomorrow, as suggested by many of the above.

Understand that personal life and official life are two different things, and both have to be balanced and enjoyed to have a wonderful life.

Regards,
Bharghavi

Holiday Policy and Employee Trust

Holidays are decided at the commencement of the new financial year, and it is not advisable to change the list of holidays at the whims and fancies of any individual in the organization. You must speak to your higher-ups and convey that such changes can lead to a catastrophe of employees' emotions, which will have an adverse impact on the organizational culture. In the future, whenever management calls upon employees to trust its intentions, this incident would be cited to undermine the best of management intentions.

Regards,

Working on Public Holidays

Calling staff to work on any 'public holidays' is neither correct nor wrong. It all depends on the market requirements or maintenance planning. When the legal work arrangements are in place and your staff is ready to work, there is no doubt about calling them in on a public holiday. However, the same practice could become challenging if it falls on a 'bundh day'.

It is a festival holiday as per the National & Festival Holiday Act. Your boss should have asked his employees to compensate on any Sunday/weekly offs for the Bundh day. You could have convinced your boss about the importance of the festival to many of your Hindu employees. Otherwise, your employees could work 4 extra hours (depending on the nature of your industry) for 2 days in the month to compensate for the Bundh day's holiday. Ours is a process industry, and we did it in consultation with the employees.

Regards,
G.K. Manjunath
Manager-HR