Am I Eligible for Annual Leave If I Haven't Completed a Full Calendar Year?

Dear All,

It is necessary for an employee to complete one calendar year to be eligible for annual leave. For example, my date of joining (DOJ) is 18.04.2012, and I have completed 240 days of work, but I have not completed the calendar year from January to December. Am I not eligible for annual leave?

Kindly suggest.

Thanks & regards,
Dipti

Those who are in continuous service for the preceding 12 months (should work not less than 240 days) are eligible for Earned Leave (E.L.) during the subsequent year. If a person joins in the middle of the calendar year, they are not eligible for earned leaves until the completion of 12 months of service. Thus, you are now eligible.

Thank you for the reply.

In my company, there is a policy that if an employee's Date of Joining (DOJ) is before the 15th of January, they are eligible for annual leave the following year, i.e., in January. However, if an employee's DOJ is after the 15th of January, February, March, or later, then they are not entitled to annual leave the next year. Even in this case, they have to complete the full calendar year from January to December.

According to my company policy, I am not eligible for annual leave yet, even though I have completed the full calendar year from January to December.

Could you kindly advise if this policy is valid or not?

Everyone is entitled to Earned Leave. It is immaterial when they join during a year.

Eligibility for Earned Leave

When an employee is in service from 1 January till 31 December, the completion of 240 days of actual work is necessary for the entitlement of Earned Leave.

When an employee joins after 1 January and works till 31 December, they will be entitled to Earned Leave if, out of the calendar days from their date of joining till 31 December, they have actually worked for a minimum of two-thirds of those days. If they have worked less than that, they will not be eligible for Earned Leave.

The same criterion applies when anyone is in employment on 1 January and leaves during the year. Two-thirds of actual working days out of the available calendar working days are the criteria.

In this case, the questioner claims that they joined on 18 April and worked until 31 December, and during this period, they worked for 240 days. It seems impossible to me. There must be some misunderstanding or miscalculation. From 18 April to 31 December, there are not 240 working days. How can one work for 240 days?

Regards,
Vibhakar Ramtirthkar
HR Consultant, Pune
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Leave Accrual and Eligibility

A sound and legally compliant policy should permit any employee to have the earned leave accrued during the calendar year, whether they join in January or in the middle of the calendar year. In the case of the latter, the leave shall accrue proportionately, whether or not they complete 240 days.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai