National Holiday - If any employee applied for the leave for 10 days and in between national Holidays come

Dear Friends,

My name is Ranjana, and I work in the HR department of an MNC. I have a query regarding National Holidays. If an employee applies for a 10-day leave and national holidays such as 15th August and Rakshabandhan fall within that period, should the employee count those holidays as part of their leave or are they entitled to the benefit of the national holidays for those two days?

In my previous company, the HOD mentioned that the benefit of national holidays should be given to every employee, whether they are on leave or working. Can you please guide me on this matter according to the law?

Thank you,
Ranjana C

Ranjana,

It depends entirely on your company's policy. Some companies have a policy where weekly offs and holidays are counted as leave if they occur during a leave period. However, some companies do not have this policy.

It is up to your company's policy.

Regards,

Dear Ranjana,

I agree with Vinod that every company has its own leave policy as I have had a similar experience in two different companies. So, please check with your HR team about the rules for this type of leave combinations.

Regards,
SD

Dear Ranjana,

It is a general principle that if you have applied for Casual Leave, then intervening National Holidays/weekly holidays do not count. However, if it is any other kind of leave, then National Holidays/weekly holidays intervening your leave are considered part of the leave applied. Nevertheless, National Holidays/weekly holidays falling at the beginning or at the end of the leave applied for are not counted.

Policies are framed within this context. However, a policy can offer better benefits, for example, intervening National Holidays/weekly holidays may not count because for better benefits, nobody is going to question.

Thanks,
V K Gupta

Dear Sir,

Generally, National and Festival holidays are applicable even when taken intermittently because if that leave is not allowed, one will have to forgo it. Some companies will allow leave that falls during a holiday period, while others will treat the holiday as part of the leave. However, as per the N & FH Act, we must allow the holiday and treat the other days as leave.

D. Gurumurthy
HR & IR Consultant, Hyd.

Referring Mr V K Gupta’s comments “NH/WO falling at the beginning or at the end of leave applied for are not counted”, I would like to have more clarification.
Is it under any Rule/Law, or an Organisations’s policy, that decides the above statement ?.
In my company, one day or two day’s leave taken, adjacent to any holiday.... for considering leave deduction, holiday is also included. Is it justified ! Even two days leave on Friday and Saturday are considered as three days deduction (since it is connected to Sunday which is our weekly off). Is it justified !! What law says ? Your guidance will be much appreciated. We work under Mumbai Shops & Establishment Act.

There are three national holidays - 26th Jan, 15th Aug, and 2nd Oct. If any of these national holidays falls during anyone's leave period, it will not be treated as part of leave.

Ensure there is a single line break between paragraphs.

Please note the following National Holidays:

26th January, 14th April, 1st May, 15th August, 2nd October, and Regional New Year. Raksha Bandan is not a National Holiday.

Leave rules must have been charted out by you as a policy of your company. If your leave policy states that intervening Weekly Holidays, Second/Fourth Saturdays, Festival Holidays, etc., are to be considered as Leave with pay, it is to be adhered to. Alternatively, if your policy does not incorporate the above, then you may calculate the exact working days only for calculating the days of Leave. In general, intervening holidays, whatever nomenclature they may have, are to be accounted for as Leave only in the absence of a specific policy regarding them.

Best wishes.

Hi Ranjana,

Employees should be given a holiday (National holiday) and it will not be counted as part of their availed leave.

Dear Ranjana,

Under the Factory Act, leave with wages by a worker on any Sunday/holiday/national festival/closed day falling in the intervening period is not counted as leave. It is excluded from the number of days a person proceeds on leave.

Leave policies in general state that any holiday falling at either end of the leave period can be suffixed or prefixed to the leave. However, any holiday falling during the intervening period is included in the leave.

Thanks & regards,

RL Dhingra
Advocate
Labour Law Consultant, Delhi
9818309937
Email: rld_498@rediffmail.com

Dear Rajan,

It's better if you go through the discussions that have taken place in this forum. You will find enough materials to understand the complexity of holidays in India, especially the detailed information provided by Vikramsingh.

As many others have pointed out, the Government of India has prescribed the following as National Holidays which must be strictly followed, except for those on duty either as per a rotation policy or for essential and emergency duties:
- Jan 26th - Republic Day
- Aug 15th - Independence Day
- Oct 2nd - Gandhi Jayanthi
In many years, April 14th, Dr. Ambedkar's Jayanthi is also observed as a National Holiday.

It is important to note that there is no compulsory National Festival Holiday as such because hardly any festival is observed nationwide, as most festivals are related to specific religions.
Other festivals and State holidays should be determined by the list of holidays provided by the respective state governments and decided jointly with unions or as per the standing orders of the establishment.

Dear Ranjana,

Your ex-HOD is right.

".. benefit should be given to each and every employee who is working in a company either he is on leave or on work."

Why should anyone be deprived of national and other holidays that come in between leaves? In the instant case, the employee will only apply for 8 leaves, and only 8 leaves will be deducted from his leave balance. There is something called fairness and fair dealing, which sadly many companies are lacking these days.

Irrespective of whatever your company rules and policy say, which may be right or wrong; as far as law is concerned, it will only be in favor of fairness and justice. The best way to understand this is: place yourself in the employee's position. Would you be happy, and consider it fair if you yourself are taking leave and that in spite of closed holidays, when your office is closed, 2 days of leave are deducted from your leave balance?

Warm regards.

Namaste Rajkumarji,

I have made a policy change this year onwards to exclude all holidays and weekly offs from leaves.

The earlier system included all days as leaves, but I have made necessary changes and revised the policy.

I believe policies like these should be part of employment laws.

Best Regards,
Bharati S. Joshi

Dear Bharati,

I sincerely appreciate your initiative and efforts to bring about a change in HR policies that are fair, legal, and employee-friendly. Please keep it up. I hope others will also emulate you and act in a professional manner, instead of just putting up with unfair and exploitative HR policies.

Warm regards.

Dear all,

This is dependent on your company policy. In my experience, if any national festival holiday falls between continuous leave, it must be considered as part of the leave and not lapse due to the national festival holiday.

Thanks,
Purav Jangra
8689007106

Query from all!!!

As per my experience, I completely believe that the leave (deduction/adjustment) rule is totally based on the company's leave policy. It is nowhere written that National Holidays (15th Aug, 26th Jan, and 2nd Oct) need not be considered, and WO/Regional Holidays shall be counted as part of leave.

Each company formulates its leave policy as per their business needs. The law only explains about the minimum number of leaves an employee is eligible for during the calendar year.

Now, for example: If an employee remains absent during the entire August Month (1st Aug ~ 31st Aug) and has not applied for a leave OR does not have leave in his account OR is absconding, companies are not bound by law to pay salary for 1 day (i.e., 15th Aug) as it is a National Holiday.

Regards,
Shashi

If any worker is called for duty in a factory, will he be entitled to double overtime pay and compensatory time off on a national holiday?

Thank you.

Dear Ranjana,

There have been a couple of posts on this query. You may see this one: https://www.citehr.com/460542-how-ca...ml#post2056343.

Regards,
Shailesh Parikh
Gujarat, Vadodara
99 98 97 10 65

I may put forth before the forum that when holidays and weekly offs are counted as working days for calculating earned leave and for other purposes, then where lies the fault if intervening NH/WO are counted towards leave taken by the employee. However, the suffix and prefix of NH/WO to leave should be allowed and should not be counted towards leave. I may also point out that I have read somewhere that leaves taken are considered as 'absence from duty from relinquishing the charge till the charge is taken back.' If we consider this aspect, then suffix and prefix are not allowed. Practically, I am not very aware of this.

Thanks,
V K Gupta

Subject: Policy Regarding Weekly Offs and Holidays

It totally depends on your company's policy. Some companies have a policy where weekly offs and holidays are counted as part of the leave if they occur during a leave period. However, some companies do not follow this practice. In my company, weekly offs and holidays that fall between casual leave or sick leave will be debited from the leave balance.

Thank you,
Nachappa

Generally, four National Holidays are: 26th Jan, 1st May, 15th August, and 2nd October. Rakshabandan is not a National Holiday but a Festival holiday. Generally, many companies do not count National holidays falling in between the leave period, but it is purely based on an individual company's policy on leave. If any employee happens to work on a National Holiday, they are entitled to one day compensatory off + one day's wages. Thus, it can be seen that the benefit of the holiday needs to be extended to the employee, instead of counting the intermittent NH as leave. Thanks.

P. Radhakrishnan

Dear Ranjana,

I also agree with Vinod. It depends entirely on the company's leave policy. In my organization, we follow a sandwich leave policy. It states that if an employee takes leave on Friday and Monday, Saturday and Sunday will also be counted as leave, which means he/she has taken 4 days of leave.

Most importantly, this policy applies to national holidays as well.

Regards,
Aaditi

Dear Aaditi,

Every company may have certain peculiar practices and policies. However, any practice or policy that contravenes the laws or well-accepted principles followed generally in the land (in this case India) is illegal and deplorable. The point at issue is whether it is legal, fair, or friendly to the employees. Can you cite any Indian law that supports your leave policy? What is the nature of leave that you have referred to; whether it is CL, EL/PL, HPL, Medical, Quarantine, Maternity, Disability Leave?

Warm regards.

The corrected text with proper paragraph formatting is as follows:

Casual Leave (CL) - YEAR BOOK 4 Central Govt. Employees: Fundamental & Supplementary Rules + Central Civil Service Rules

Above page is a useful guideline for Casual Leave.

Dear Seniors,

Whenever a debate is raised on leave with wages and other leave benefits, it is always concluded with different opinions citing that it depends upon individual leave policy. Even the points raised by the Super Moderator are also left unanswered. As I do not have a written leave policy, can anyone share an ideal and comprehensive leave policy for the members for better awareness? (On my basic search on this site, I could not locate one)

Dear Ramesan,

I have provided the above link for guidelines on CASUAL LEAVE, etc.

For festival/national holidays and Casual & Sick Leave, you can refer to the NATIONAL & FESTIVAL HOLIDAYS & Sick & Casual Leave Act applicable to your state.

The quantity of leave can be determined from the Factories Act if covered under that Act or the Shop & Commercial Establishment Act if covered under the same. Normally, the establishment is covered by either of the Acts applicable in the concerned State.

Commercial houses typically provide the following types of leave to employees:

- Casual Leave (It is not recognized as leave of absence. Generally, this leave is not permitted to be combined with other types of leave except in some circumstances of sickness/maternity)
- Earned/Privileged Leave
- Half Pay Leave (Commuted on Medical Grounds) (Not granted by management if the employee is covered under ESIC)
- Maternity Leave
- Leave Without Pay if no leave is due

There are other types of leave formulated as per the organization's requirements, such as Study Leave. If such leave is granted to an employee, the organization would like to reap benefits from this extended benevolence.

Thanks,

V K Gupta

National holidays should not be counted as leave.

Regards,
Beem

Since discussion is becoming more and more interesting, My simple Question :
How many days PLs are given to employee’s a/c, for a complete year, i.e. for 365 days, under Bombay Shops & Establishment Act. Is it 32 days or 21 days ? Act says after completion of 240 days work (i.e. 8 months), employee is eligible for 21 days. The calculation for whole year works out to 32 days. Is it justified.
Please respond, preferably with any case study or any authoritative decision of any court.

This year, 15th August (National Holiday) was on Thursday. If any employee is absent for the next two days, i.e., on Friday and Saturday:

1. What will be his total number of days leave to be counted?
2. In case the employee has no leave balance in his account, what will be his salary deduction?

Sunday is a weekly off for the organization, which operates under the Bombay Shops & Establishment Act.

One more Question, I would like to raise –
An organization has a policy of allowing MAXIMUM holidays of 10 days in a calendar year. Whether these 10 days are including National holidays ? If answer is yes, then only SIX DAYS are available to select for festivals and other holidays. All including holidays become 10 days. Am I right !
OR
National holidays are to be allowed in addition to company’s normal number of holidays of 10 days. Here the total holidays become 14 in a year.
Shall request members’ comments.

Dear friends,

We should all be aware and recognize the fact that except in the government sector and other organized/established firms, the leave policies followed by most firms are not uniform. The majority of them don't seriously adhere to any leave policy at all, and many of them decide at their own whims and fancies. Despite relevant provisions being made in appropriate legislations, no strict leave pattern is followed by the employers. Not only that, compulsory national holidays are also not observed in many firms. Last week, the Tamil Nadu state government authorities registered cases against more than 20 establishments that failed to declare a holiday on 15.8.13. Labor administration, being a subject of state governments, it is the duty of respective state government authorities to oversee such provisions of the law.

The subject matter is frequently raised in the forum, and I think the information they are looking for is already available through the links. For ready reference, compiled data is attached for the use of those in need. Of course, this information should be updated periodically for any changes.

Referring to the first query on this page:

If any employee is absent for the next two days, i.e., on Friday and Saturday:

1. What will be his total number of days of leave to be counted?
2. In case the employee has no leave balance in his account, what will be his salary deduction?

The total number of days to be counted is two days, provided the person reports on Monday and is present on duty the preceding Wednesday. In case he has no leave balance, two days of LOP will be effected if the above conditions are met.

Second query:

An organization has a policy of allowing a maximum of 10 days of holidays in a calendar year. Are these 10 days including National holidays? If the answer is yes, then only SIX DAYS are available to select for festivals and other holidays. All inclusive holidays become 10 days. Am I right?

A maximum of 10 days of holidays can consist of National Holidays and Festival Holidays. Four National Holidays are compulsory, and the balance days could be Festival holidays. From a statutory point of view, an act is available, namely the National and Festival Holidays Act, 1942. All organizations are expected to make a list of holidays and submit it to the Labour Department under this Act before the 15th of November of the preceding year for the proposed holidays for the coming year.

I trust this clarifies your doubt.

Thanks.

P. Radhakrishnan

Thank you very much Mr Radhakrishnan. There is absolutely no confusion once we read your comments, which have great clarity, and all doubts get wiped off.
One more help requested : In the last page I have put one more question, which is reproduced below :
How many days PLs are given to employee’s a/c, for a complete year, i.e. for 365 days, under Bombay Shops & Establishment Act. Is it 32 days or 21 days ? Act says after completion of 240 days work (i.e. 8 months), employee is eligible for 21 days leave. The calculation for whole year works out to 32 days. However, some companies give only 21 days PL for the whole year, and as per act no need to give any CL and SL to employees. Is it justified. Please respond, preferably with any case study or any authoritative decision of any court.
Shall be grateful if you could say something on the above.

Dear Friends,

Please appreciate the fact that matters governed by law cannot be decided by company policies.

Vasant Nair

Respected All,

I work in a retail showroom as an HR Assistant, and here my manager says we give our employees only 52 days of leave in one year, including national and religious holidays. So, how can I create a leave policy for our showroom?

Showroom details:
- Number of employees: 10
- Working hours: 9:30 am to 9:00 pm with a 1.5-hour lunch break.

Please guide me on creating a leave policy for my showroom. I am eagerly awaiting a positive response.

Thank you.

Dear Mayur,

Can you confirm where your establishment is located and under which Act it is registered? Since leave policies differ from state to state, it can be determined based on the Act under which your organization is registered, such as the Factories Act or the Shops and Establishments Act.

Thank you.

Dear Sir,

My shop is registered under the Shop Act. It is located in Rajkot, Gujarat state.

Can an organization (factory or manufacturing unit) work on October 2? October 2 being a national holiday.

Punjab Govt. notification on exempting 'continuous process' industries from National Festival Holidays. Exemption To Industrial Establishments From Punjab Industrial Establishment (National And Festival Holidays And Casual And Sick Leave) Act, 1965 The Government of Punjab via notification No. 21/65/2019-4L/1101 has exempted industrial establishments in Punjab engaged in the continuous process industry from the provisions of the Punjab Industrial Establishment (National And Festival Holidays And Casual And Sick Leave) Act, 1965. Please see attached notification.

Wish to know how many other states have formalized this aspect, although in practice almost all follow it without a formal government notification.

As far as the Haryana Government is concerned, we have not come across any notification exempting 'continuous process' industries from National Festival Holidays under the Punjab Industrial Establishment (National and Festival Holidays and Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965, as applicable to the state of Haryana.

R N KHOLA

Should holidays and weekly off be included or excluded while calculating the number of leaves when holidays fall in between leaves?

It is one of the questions that confuses many HR professionals. Technically speaking, all leaves with pay exclude weekly off and holidays. This means that even if an employee is on leave for the whole month (30 days), which includes 4 weekly offs and 1 holiday, the employee should be considered on leave for 25 days only.

Similarly, if an employee takes leave from Saturday to Monday where Sunday is the weekly off, then Sunday should not be counted as leave. Hence, only 2 leaves should be counted.

Hello Bijay,

Your query surrounds one of the basic principles/practices followed in granting leave to employees. Please be informed:

1. All declared "intervening Holidays" and Duty off days sandwiched in-between 'Leave availed' are to be counted as 'Leave'.

2. However, such days "prefixing & suffixing", either weekly off or declared holidays, are treated as "Paid Holidays". There can be exceptions in a few establishments; nonetheless, this is a generally followed practice.

There is no need for any confusion. Your queries discussed here are periodically raised. If you use the search option, you'll be able to read all of them.

Coming back to your examples:
i) On leave for 30 days = please apply rule (1) above.
ii) Leave from "Saturday to Monday" = if Sunday is a weekly off and if Saturday is a working day, all three days should be counted as Leave for 3 days. Consider both 1 and 2 above. This is due to the fact that 'Sunday, a weekly off' is sandwiched between Saturday and Monday, both being working days.

If you need an explanation with more illustrations, please continue.

Also, go through the discussion on a similar query in this link - https://www.citehr.com/showthread.ph...ehr_newsletter.

You can find more information by visiting the following link - https://www.citehr.com/showthread.ph...ehr_newsletter.

Yes, intervening weekly off should be counted as leave. However, companies may have different policies. For example, a reputed auto major (MNC) headquartered in Chennai has a leave policy where if an employee takes PL for more than a week, the intervening weekly-off (Sunday) will also be considered as PL. On the other hand, if an individual is sick and takes sick leave (lasting more than a week), the intervening weekly-off will be treated as such and not as leave.

Intervening national or festival holidays should not be considered as leave.