Leave Without Pay Dilemma: Does a Weekend Count as LWP Days?

If an employee has consumed all of their paid leave and has taken Leave Without Pay (LWP) on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, would it count as 3 days of LWP or 2 days of LWP? I would also appreciate it if you could provide me with some supporting information.

Regards,
Madhuri

Ideally, weekly offs cannot be deemed as Leave Without Pay (LWP). You cannot deprive an employee of their weekly off if you are paying wages/salary on a 30/31-day basis.

Understanding Leave Policies

LWP means: Leave With Pay.
LOP means: Loss of Pay.

If your company is following the sandwich rule, then the employee has to apply for three days of LOP.

Regards,
Ashish

Every organization that follows the sandwich rule will consider a day off as LOP/LWP if the preceding and succeeding days of the day off are LWP.

Understanding Leave Without Pay (LWP) and Holiday Counting

In cases of Loss of Pay Leave (LWP) (approved leave), any intervening holidays or weekly off days need not be counted as per convention. However, there is no hard and fast rule under labor laws regarding how these holidays sandwiched in between should be treated. It all depends on the leave policy/standing orders of the employer concerned.

Counting Holidays in Different Leave Types

Whereas in the case of normal leave like PL/EL/Sick leave, these holidays sandwiched will be counted except when they are prefixed or suffixed. However, HR/Leave policies differ from establishment to establishment. What labor laws state is that there shall be weekly holidays and other holidays as prescribed under state acts/rules.

Regards

As rightly said by Vispipatwa, the Sandwich rule is applicable only for paid leaves, whether it is CL/SL/EL, but not applicable on LOP. So in this case, the employee must be on 2 days LOP and not 3 days, as per my view.

If an employee takes any leaves before and after a holiday (for example, Saturday to Monday or Monday to Wednesday), then salary or leave deductions will include Sunday or the holiday.

FYI: Most companies follow this kind of strategy.

Best Regards,
Nabil