Can Employees on Probation Take Casual or Sick Leave During Their Notice Period?

I need your input on this matter. If an employee is serving a one-month notice period (the employee is on probation but still needs to serve the notice as per the agreement), can he/she avail themselves of Casual/Sick Leave (one per month) and Restricted Holiday (one per year) during this period? Although the employer has generally indicated not to take leave during the notice period, can they deduct salary or create issues if someone takes a Restricted Holiday or casual leave (pending for that particular month)?

Thank you.

What is HR?

For any leave, if the appointment letter clause provides, then the employer can recover the notice period amount in case of CL/SL/EL during the notice period.

RH is a restricted holiday, as I mentioned above in my post. The company provides 8-10 normal holidays, which include gazetted holidays as well. Besides that, one can take only 1 RH in a calendar year among the list of other holidays like Eid, Janmashtami, Karwa Chauth, Christmas, etc. So an employee can take 1 RH per year depending on the festivals they celebrate.

Hope that helps! Thanks.

Hi,

Strictly speaking, the employee has to serve a 30-day notice. So if he/she avails any leave, he/she has to make up for the number of days of leave availed. Alternatively, the company is at liberty to deduct salary for the said period. However, if the company/reporting manager is generous, it can be overlooked, and only 30 days can be accounted for.

Regards,

Thanks for your reply!!

There can be many reasons for a person taking leave; it can be a festival he/she celebrates that falls on a public holiday. It's just my personal thought that no one would like to have their pay deducted for that when they are entitled to have one public holiday per year, which can be on any festival from the list.

Also, when an employee is completing all conditions (even in the probation period) of serving a one-month notice period (which is not a clause generally seen in agreements for the probation period), should he not be entitled to holidays/leave he has pending or in the form of public holidays?

Thanks

I am of the opinion that Casual Leave is meant for circumstances that can arise at any moment, even during working hours. This type of leave is kept separate from other sets of leave. In fact, it is not a leave of absence and can be applied for and availed at any time.

Other kinds of leave, such as 'leave of absence,' require pre-application and sanction.

If leave needs to be taken during the active notice period, it can be applied for and availed. In such cases, we can inform management to extend the notice period by the number of days for which leave is taken.

Thank you.

Notice Pay and Leave During Notice Period

It depends upon the terms and conditions of the agreement/Standing Order of the company or the policy, if any. The basic requirement of Notice Pay is to ensure a proper handover and smoothly relieve the employee. It is at the discretion of the management whether they have to deduct the pay or extend his/her notice period for a few more days.

Regards.

Government Leave Rules During Notice Period

As per government leave rules, no leave is permitted during the notice period; all leave shall be seized. If availed, then the notice period shall be extended accordingly. Balanced EL/PL will be encashed, and CL/SL shall be lapsed.

Probation Period Considerations

In the case of the probation period, if the probation period has passed 240 days or more, then the clause of notice period or notice pay is applicable; otherwise, this clause is not applicable for both the employer or employee.

Private Sector Leave Rules

Now, in the private sector, leave rules depend on company rules and management decisions. During the notice period, leave can be permitted or not, depending on company leave rules. If permitted, it can be availed; otherwise, even pay can be deducted for leave availed. However, legally, for serving the notice period or notice pay, a minimum probation period of 240 days is required.

Can you please provide the details of the Actual Situation rather than asking a generic query or making judgmental remarks (e.g., "I thought it's a pretty big forum")? You already seem to have the general rules right when you mentioned, "the employer has generally said not to take leave during the notice period."

The choices you have, or rather the answer to your query, depend a lot on the circumstances of such situations. For example, the employee may have a track record of absenteeism, or he/she may be having attitude issues, and so on. A lot of the response mechanism from the company's perspective would depend on the Facts of the Case rather than applying a generic rule for any and all such situations. Hope you get the point.

However, if you are asking this query for some project or research work, please say so—the members' responses would be suitably given.

Regards,
TS

Notice Period and Leave Policies

Serving a notice period does not mean that one has to be physically present on all the days of the notice period. Extending the notice period would arise only when the employee has taken leave on loss of pay or been absent. If the employee has any unavailed eligible leave to their credit, then they can avail of the leave, subject to the regular norms of leave approval. Any unavailed leave has to be encashed in the Full and Final settlement to the employee.

If the Restricted Holiday (RH) is given in lieu of a scheduled National Festival Holiday (NFH) as per the provisions of the NFH Act, then no wages shall be deducted for availing the RH, unless the RH is being claimed in advance of the originally scheduled holiday.

Regards,
M. Venkatraghavan

Notice Period and Restricted Holiday Concerns

Less than 2 months have passed in the probation period, but as company policies mention in the agreement, a notice needs to be given for 1 month (even during the probation period). So, a 1-month notice period has been given.

I understand that most people have said that it depends on the company and their policies. However, my main concern is whether the profile does not warrant any charges, and a person wants to avail of the RH (Restricted Holiday) simply because they celebrate that festival, can the company deny the holiday, deduct the salary for that day, or ask for an extension? If so, is it correct as per laws? Note: RH is given once per year and is not paid if not taken, so it must be utilized. Therefore, is it not the right of the employee to take that RH whenever they want (be it during the notice period or not), as RH is a holiday and not leave?

When an employee is following everything systematically and in a good way (giving a 1-month complete notice even during the probation period) and has been regular as well in the past (if it matters)?

Regards

Yes, it is legally correct if one avails of 1 RH irrespective of the notice period. If an employee has served a 1-month notice and properly completed the handover process, the employer will likely relieve him/her in a congenial environment, even after availing of all his/her pending leaves or leave encashment.

Leave Policy During Notice Period

To permit Restricted Holidays (RH) to an employee during his or her notice period is solely dependent on the consent of management. As far as Earned Leave (EL), Casual Leave (CL), and Sick Leave (SL) are concerned, they should be compensated in the notice period.

Thanks & Regards,
Sumit Kumar Saxena