How Are Sundays and Holidays Counted in CL or EL/PL Leave? Seeking Clarity!

Hi HR Folks, I have a query: Is Sunday or a holiday counted/calculated if it falls in the middle of CL or EL/PL?

Example Scenarios

A. I take CL on Saturday and Monday: Will Sunday be counted as CL or not?

B. I take EL/PL on Friday, Saturday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Sunday is a weekly off and Monday is a holiday: So how much EL will be deducted from my leave account—4 or 6?

Looking forward to your help to make me understand the above query.

Regards,
MD. NIZAMUDDIN KHAN

Intervening holidays are to be treated as leave.

Answer to Example A: Counted as C/L.

Answer to Example B: 6.

Hope your concept is clear now.

Sundays and any other holidays in a month are not taken into consideration while counting the leaves.

Understanding Leave Policies: Counting Holidays and Weekends

Basically, it depends on the company's leave policy. Most companies follow policies similar to what you have asked about. For example, if you work five days a week with Saturday and Sunday off as the weekend, taking an EL/PL/CL on Friday as well as the following Monday will be considered as four days off rather than two.

Similarly, if Friday is a holiday (e.g., a festival) with Saturday and Sunday as weekend leave, and you take a day off (EL/CL/PL) on the following Monday, it will count as only one day off.

This policy is adopted by most companies to prevent employees from taking long weekends off, but it may vary based on individual company policies.

Regards,
S M

Legally and logically, there are two factors to be kept in mind before making a decision on this subject.

1. Does your establishment fall under the Factories Act or the Shops and Establishments Act?
2. Do you use 30 or 26 as the denominator for calculating one day's wages for loss of pay?

Factories Act and Using 26 as the Denominator

Most factories follow this for workmen. Let me recall here that the Factories Act does not provide for PAID WEEKLY OFF. Logically, one cannot deduct wages for a day when he or she is not paid for the same. When one uses 26 as the denominator, it excludes weekly off. Hence, intervening weekly off will be excluded and will not be counted.

Shops and Establishments Act/Factories Act Using 30 as the Denominator

The Shops Act is more liberal in terms of the number of days of leave. This legislation also provides for paid weekly off. Hence, one uses 30 as the denominator. Some of the factories also use 30 as the denominator. There are conditions provided for paid weekly off, like an employee is eligible for one day paid off if he or she has worked for the entire week. Hence, if an employee takes even one day off in a week, he or she is not eligible for paid weekly off. Hence, legally and logically, it is correct to include intervening weekly off with Casual Leave or Earned Leave or Medical Leave.

National Holidays

All employees are eligible for National Holidays, and under any stretch of imagination, legally it is not permissible to include the intervening National Holidays with CL or Earned Leave.

Festival Holidays

An employee is eligible for Festival Holidays if he or she has worked for 30 days in the last three months. If an employee has met this condition, then it is mandatory to pay for the intervening festival holiday.

The above logic is applicable where the benefits offered by the organization are minimum and as prescribed under the law. However, there are instances where organizations provide more leave benefits. Examine carefully the benefits. I have worked in a place where the conditions were as follows:

1. 5 days a week
2. 30 days earned leave in a year, 12 days CL in a year, and 12 days SL in a year
3. 10 days of National and Festival Holidays
4. Denominator used is 30

We used to include all intervening weekly offs. In fact, if an employee takes leave from Monday to Friday, the weekly off of Saturday and Sunday will also be included. However, we were careful not to include intervening National and Festival Holidays.

I agree with Shafique ji. The policy, as stated by Shafique ji and myself, is being followed by most managements so that employees are not disadvantaged.

Explanation of Leave Policy under Bombay S&E Act

In the explanation to Chapter VII of the Bombay S&E Act, it is stated that the leave allowed under clauses (a) & (b) shall be inclusive of the days during the period of such leave on which a shop or commercial establishment remained closed or on which the employee is entitled to holidays. The meaning of this explanation is that the 21 days given under this Act include holidays that fall within it. This means that such holidays are considered as part of the leave.

Central Civil Services Leave Rules

I would also like to bring to your attention the leave rules applicable to Central Civil Services, which state that Sundays/Holidays falling in between Casual Leave are not treated as Casual Leave.

Regards,

Understanding Leave Policies: Weekends and Holidays

It varies from company to company, completely depending on the company's leave policy. Some policies state that any weekend or holiday in between leaves is considered as part of the leave, while others do not specify this. Based on the number of leaves you provide, you can determine which policy applies.

Regards

Understanding Company Policy on Leave Calculation

I keep seeing posts mentioning that it depends on company policy. The question, if I have understood it right, is whether such a policy is correct logically and legally. Drafting any HR policy must be in tune with the legislations applicable.

Regards.

As I said in my previous post, if you use 26 as the denominator for calculating one day's wage, then exclude the weekly off falling in between.

If you use 30 as the denominator, as is the case in establishments covered under the Shops and Establishments Act, then include the intervening weekly off in leave. Intervening National and Festival Holidays cannot be included in leave, and wages must be paid for the same.

Please note that it is not wholly the company's discretion.

While drawing attention and agreeing to the opinion expressed by T. Sivasankaran on this, I find that holidays/weekly off as a prefix or suffix or as intervening days during a leave has always puzzled the HR fraternity in CiteHR, and from time to time, there are several active and most popular discussions on it.

The practice of calculating leave varies from company to company and sector to sector. The differences are due to the following factors:

- Leave with wages and type of leaves, as well as their numbers varying in legislations; like the Factories Act, Shops & Establishment Acts of various states, etc.

- Concept of calculation of "Wages" and "Salaries" and the consequent calculations based on "daily rate" or "monthly rate"!

The daily rate calculations of wages are based on 26 working days in a month; as rightly reflected even in the Payment of Gratuity Act; whereas the monthly rates are based on 30 days or the number of days in that particular month.

- Philosophy of the employer: Govt. or PSUs have employee-friendly policies which do not penalize the employees, whereas private companies seek to reduce the number of leave balances of employees to reduce payment in lieu of earned or privilege leaves.

- Introduction of a 5-day week, especially with the advent of S/W and IT/ITES companies, has put additional pressure on these companies to reduce the number of leaves or absences; as working for 5 days is interpreted as distinct from a 6 working day week which entitles an employee to a paid weekly off - without it being counted as leave, irrespective of whether it is prefixed, suffixed, or comes in between any leave.

It seems unless there is specific legislation that forces every employer to have standard and uniform leave policies; or good companies in every sector displaying employee-friendly and fair leave policies to serve as a role model for others to follow; such confusions, vagaries, and differences shall continue to exist to torment freshers and young HR professionals.

However, this should not be a reason not to know and understand the reasons why such differences exist.

Warm regards.

Clarification on Leave Calculation

Legally, Sundays and declared holidays are not counted in Casual Leave (CL). However, the total number of days of absence, including all Sundays, holidays, and CL, should not exceed 10 days in a month. Hope you are clear now.

Regards,
Ramanathan, Advocate.

As per Section 25(5) under the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947, "Authorized leave shall be deemed not to include any weekly holiday or half-holiday allowed under this Act which occurs at the beginning or end of an interruption brought about by the leave."

Regards,
Nizamuddinkhan

Understanding Leave Calculation as per the Factories Act

As per the Factories Act, if a weekly off or paid holiday falls between two days of leave, it will be considered as part of the leave. An employee must be present at either end of the weekly off or paid holiday to be eligible for payment for the weekly off or paid holiday.

Thank you.

Thanks everyone for highlighting your views. But still, my question remains unanswered. I'm not talking about the weekly off. My question is: I worked from Monday to Friday and I take CL on Saturday and Monday, with Sunday being the weekly off; will Sunday be counted as CL or a weekly off?

M.N. KHAN

If I take a half-day leave in the second half and then the leave continues until Tuesday, will it be considered as part of my Paid Leave (PL)? Please confirm urgently.

If I take a half-day leave in the second half on Saturday and then the leave continues until Tuesday, will it come under PL? Kindly confirm urgently.

Dear Sir,

My query is: my employee had a day off on a public holiday, so I would like to know if he is eligible to take the following day off as well, considering it is also a public holiday.

Thank you.

Greetings of the Day, Public holidays between EL leaves should be marked as PH or EL. For example, if an employee takes EL from 02-10-2022 to 08-10-2022 and 05-10-2022 is a public holiday, it will be marked as EL or PH.