Confused About Salary Deductions for Leave on Monday? Need Your Advice!

Dear All,

Friends, please guide me. I took a leave on Monday due to some personal reasons this month (OCTOBER). However, now my salary is deducted for 2 days, i.e., Sunday & Monday (Monday was my leave day).

I have been with this company for 6 months, so I am unaware of the company policy. Is it true that if an employee takes a leave on Monday, then Sunday is also deducted? I have heard that if an employee takes a leave on Saturday - Sunday - Monday, then only Sunday is deducted.

Please, friends, guide me on this matter. Although it has already been deducted for this month, I want to be prepared for next time. So, if you can guide me on this.

Regards,
Manisha Pandey

Normally, only holidays or weekly offs that come between two earned leaves, sick leaves, or loss of pay leaves will be treated as leave. If the leave is for Monday alone, the preceding weekly off should not be counted as leave. This may be a mistake by the Personnel Department. Please verify this.

Additionally, ensure that any internal rule exists stating that if an employee is absent on the day following a weekly off or holiday, the holiday/weekly off preceding it will also be considered as leave. While this rule is not legally binding, a company may have such rules in place to prevent employees from being absent on Mondays or the days following a weekly off/holiday.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

A good day. I just saw your query today, and this interested me to reply. I am not familiar with the Labor Laws of India. However, being a new employee yourself (just 6 months, you said), I think it is only natural for you to kindly ask your Human Resource Officer to explain to you the basic policies that a new employee needs to be aware of. This explanation portion should have been part of a new Employee Induction since this is basic. However, if there was one but this matter was overlooked, I don't see any reason why you cannot clarify with Human Resources why you were deducted Sunday as well for a leave on a Monday. Yes, I agree with Madku, T.K. you can check with your office. This may just be an oversight. Glad to be of help.

Have a nice day,
Cecil T.B.

You are right! If you take leave on Saturday as well as Monday, then the company can consider Sat, Sun, and Mon as three days of leave as per the company's Sandwich Leave policy. But, if you take leave on Monday alone, that cannot be considered as two days of leave. As Mr. Madhu and Mr. Cecil said, clarify it with your HR department regarding this.

Regards,
Srilakshmi Korukonda

They are right. If you were to leave on both Saturday and Monday, then only it will be considered as 3 days of leave. When you have taken leave only on Monday, management can deduct salary for that one day only.

A company cannot take an employee for a ride. Your seniors must be aware of the rules. There is always a leave policy, and it is a part of your appointment letter. If not, seek one. As per the present case, since you have availed leave on Monday which is sanctioned, no world power can deduct your salary. The normal leave policy says that a holiday cannot be prefixed or suffixed with leave without prior approval. If done without sanction, the employee is cautioned not to repeat. But his salary is not supposed to be deducted.

Regards.

Understanding Sandwich Leave Policy

In simple terms, sandwich leaves refer to a leave policy where leaves are treated as continuous. For example, if an employee takes leave on Friday and Monday, and in between there are two weekly offs, i.e., Saturday and Sunday, then these two days coming in between Friday and Monday will also be counted as leaves, making the total leaves four. Essentially, any weekly offs or holidays falling in between EL, CL, SL are sandwiched and counted as leaves in the sandwich leave policy.

If an employee takes leave from Monday to Friday and resumes duties on Monday morning, where Saturday and Sunday are weekly offs, their leaves will be counted as five days (Monday to Friday) according to the sandwich leave policy. In this scenario, weekly offs do not come in between the leaves, and since the employee resumes on Monday, only five days of leave will be counted. In the same situation, if the employee takes leave on Monday as well and resumes duties on Tuesday, then a total of eight leaves will be counted as per the sandwich leave policy.

Again, it all depends on the leave policy. In the case of Casual Leave, leave taken on Friday and Monday is considered as 2 days leave. Weekly offs may come in between. However, if it is Earned Leave or Sick Leave, weekly offs are regarded as leave.