Attendance Dilemma: Can Employees Correct Missed Days or Are They Marked Absent?

Attendance Marking Policy Query

If an employee forgets to mark attendance and later claims it, can the employee be marked absent and not permitted to mark attendance for a previous day? Is there any directive in labor law, Shop Act License, or any government notification that prohibits this action?

Regards

If it is a genuine lapse on the part of the employee, he can be allowed to mark attendance. Whether it is a genuine case or not needs to be verified with reference to evidence and witnesses.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
Mumbai

First of all, it has to be checked whether it is a regular habit of the individual. Secondly, it is his right to claim attendance if he is present, but he has to produce some evidence like any signed document during his duty, minutes of the meeting, CCTV footage, etc. Thirdly, HR has to be very strict on attendance signing because if any incident occurs inside the premises and a person is on the premises without any entry, then a legal issue will arise.

If HR decides not to allow the person to mark attendance even though they were present, primarily because of not following procedure, is that valid as per law? There are certain people who do not mark attendance and later claim it at the time of payroll. We already have a policy that if anyone fails to mark attendance, he/she should claim the same within 24 hours, beyond which it will be treated as absent. I just want to confirm if this is permissible as per law?

Irrespective of lapses on the part of employees, it is the basic function of the HR department to generate correct and accurate attendance records. Attendance can also be verified using the Production Report for a particular day.

Employer's Responsibility Under The Factory Act - 1948

Under the provisions of The Factory Act - 1948, it is the employer's responsibility to maintain a Muster Roll of all employees deployed for work. If an employer omits any name, they would be liable for prosecution.

Regards,
P.N. Pathak
Senior HR Manager
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Dear Sum, Is the rule being referred to by you the Standing Orders applicable? If it is so, then refusing regularization of a missing punch is perfectly legal. Assuming it is not, when there is a rule to that effect, then it has to be ensured for the sake of discipline and to ensure uniformity; otherwise, there will be chaos. This rule can be defended in case it is challenged, although as per the Payment of Wages Act, deductions can be made only in proportion to the absence.

Regards, KK