Is It Legal to Deduct Pay for Uninformed Leave? Seeking Advice on New Policy Implementation

Amendments to Leave Policy

I'm making some amendments to my current leave policy. Some employees in our company take leave without informing us. Therefore, I am introducing a new rule.

Leave Without Information Policy

- Leave Without Information will be considered as Leave Without Pay (LWP).
- In case of Balance Leave, the balance leave will lapse, and 1 day of LWP will be applied.
- In case of no Balance Leave, 2 days' salary will be deducted.

(This policy is only implemented for those who didn't inform us for the whole day, as we understand emergencies can occur sometimes.)

Please let me know if we can implement this rule in our company, as some people are saying it might be illegal. Awaiting your reply.

Regards,
Nisha Sharma
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

As far as I can see and know, the "Balance leave will be lapse" will bring you serious problems. You can't nullify all the balance leaves for such reasons. Counting the 'Leave Without Information' as LWP is okay, though your current Leave Policy must have the "Prior Approval is needed to avail leaves" clause, except in emergency situations.

Legal Aspects

Regarding the legal aspects, I suggest waiting for other members to respond with the appropriate legal acts references.

Regards,
TS

Leave Policy Amendments

All balance leave will not lapse. One balance leave will lapse, and one day will be Leave Without Pay (LWP). Actually, we want to compensate for two days; it can be:

- Two balance leaves for one day Leave Without Information (LWI)
- Two LWP for one day LWI
- One balance leave and one LWP for one day LWI

Waiting for your suggestions.

Regards,
Nisha Sharma
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

I got it—it looks like I misunderstood your posting earlier. Coming to 'what to do', I suggest going ONLY for 1 LWP for 1 LWI—that way you won't have resistance to begin with. The "1 for 1" policy is BOTH fair and realistic, I guess. If more than 1 day of leave is deducted for 1 LWI, you COULD be inviting unnecessary motives by the employees. While solving one problem, you MAY create another—hope you get the point. If this doesn't yield results, then maybe later, you can increase to more than 1 day.

All the Best.

Regards,
TS

In our company, we have to maintain enough staffing to handle the work. Hence, anyone on leave without information is considered as NCNS (No Call No Show), and due to this, it impacts their salary and incentives. NCNS should not be tolerated, as it can lead to a major impact on the process. Everyone wants leave, less work, and more pay. It is impossible to track the valid reason behind the leave. Hence, to discourage such practices, it must be tackled with harsh measures that make employees realize the consequences before availing such leaves. Any leave that is not approved by the supervisor/manager is also considered as NCNS.