Navigating Leave Rules: How to Handle Absences Around Festival Holidays?

One employee was absent on the 13th of January 2014, with two days of festival holiday on the 14th and 15th. Can I grant two days of festival holiday? Is the 13th considered a loss of pay, or should I allocate Casual Leave (CL) or Sick Leave (SL), considering the employee has available CL and SL?

In a similar situation, another employee was absent on the 16th of January 2014, with the same two days of festival holiday on the 14th and 15th. Can I grant two days of festival holiday? Is the 16th considered a loss of pay, or should I allocate CL or SL, considering the employee has available CL and SL?

Could you please guide me on these two questions? What is the rule according to the Factory Act 1948?

Regards

This case is in no way connected with the Factories Act of 1948. The act does not specify any rules regarding CL or SL; it only pertains to earned leave. The decision to grant leave is purely dependent on the management's policy. Do not grant leave as mentioned in your statement. The employee must apply with a valid reason; otherwise, consider these leaves as absent. If you are not following any specific policy, please seek approval from the unit head and establish a new leave policy.

Regards,
Alphonse

You can grant casual leave since it is only for the 13th of January, and the same can be availed in conjunction with holidays.

Regards,
B. Saikumar, HR & Labor Law Advisor

In my opinion, as per the National & Festival Holidays Act applicable to Tamil Nadu, only if an employee has worked for 30 days in the 90 days preceding the festival holiday will they be eligible for the festival holidays. If they have not completed the 30 days, then the festival holidays can either be adjusted against their available leave (CL or PL) as the case may be, or can be treated as LOP. However, if they have completed the qualifying period, they will be entitled to the holiday with wages, and the leave prefixed and suffixed with the festival holiday alone can be deducted from their leave balance (i.e., 13th or 16th only).

The qualifying period will not be applicable for National holidays on 26th Jan, 01st May, 15th August & 2nd October.

Regards

Normally, CL cannot be combined with other leave; however, it depends on your Leave Policy. If so, you can ask him to apply for EL for the 13th and treat the 14th & 15th as prefixed and suffixed, which is permissible in the normal course. I won't support taking a lenient view on LOP. If you want to punish him, then LOP is the option.