How Are Leaves Counted Around Holidays? Seeking Advice on My August Leave Plan

Dear all Seniors, I am working in a packaging company as an HR Assistant. If I take leave before 15th August, i.e., on 16th and 17th August, will it be counted as 3 leaves or not?

Leave Details:

- Leave on 14th August.
- Restricted Holiday on 15th August.
- Leave on 16th August.

I am awaiting your response.

Regards,
Savita

This type of leave is called Sandwich leave. As per the Shops & Commercial Establishment Act, if an employee takes leave before and after a holiday, the company can treat it as a 3-day leave. For example, if you take leave on the 14th and 16th of August surrounding the national holiday on the 15th (a government-declared holiday), it can be considered as 3 days of leave.

However, some companies may treat it as only a 2-day leave as an employee benefit. If you have a leave policy, you can follow that; otherwise, you should consult your management and proceed accordingly. Please note that leave policies vary from company to company.

Regards

I hope you are all well. I have some questions on various leave issues. If any employee in the industry takes 2 days of leave (1 day before a weekly holy day/Government holy day and another day after the holy day), should it be counted as 3 days of casual leave or 2 days of casual leave?

Secondly, if anyone has 12 days of annual leave and 8 days of casual leave in hand, and they want to take 1 day off after a weekly holiday, is it correct to deduct 1 day of leave from their annual leave? If not, why?

Casual Leave Calculation:

In an accounting year (July - June or Jan - Dec), 10 casual leaves are accepted. Is there any provision that allows for 10 days of leave for 12 months (as per labor law - 240 working days = 1 year)? Therefore, the per month casual leave would be 0.83 day. If a worker/employee wants to take 3 days of casual leave in the 2nd month of an accounting year, is it possible to consider this as 3 days of leave?

My comment on this is - as he has only worked for 1 month, he is eligible for only 0.83 days of leave. How can I approve 3 days of casual leave in this case? On the other hand, if there are 10 days of casual leave due unavailed, it doesn't matter to approve 3 days of leave.

I need your concrete guidelines, please.

With kind regards,

Sabyashachi

In response to your query about the leave types available in your company, if there are CL and EL/PL, the employee can avail of two CLs before and after a holiday/Sunday. Only two leaves will be calculated. Festivals, national holidays, public holidays, and Sundays will not be counted as leave. If it falls between intervening EL, then the holiday will be treated as EL only. This will depend on your company's leave policy. If there are no leave rules established yet, you can follow this. I believe I have addressed your query. If you still have any confusion, please let me know at [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons] / [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons].

Regards,
T. Prathap

Keeping in view the welfare of the workers, the company may relax leave policies to some extent. If you speak strictly, what Mr. T. Prathap, HR Executive, mentioned is quite in order. However, I am surprised to see that 15th August is listed as a Restricted Holiday. Is it really?

National holidays cannot be restricted holidays for any establishment. Festival holidays can be restricted subject to agreement with the workers' union. A list of holidays is to be prepared and displayed in a prominent place of the company/establishment.

Prefixing and Suffixing of Holidays

Now, prefixing and suffixing of the holidays or the weekly day of rest. In this case, only Earned Leave, also known as Privilege Leave, can be prefixed and suffixed to the holidays. Intermittent holidays are exempted from the leave period. I repeat, only in the case of EL/PL. In the case of CL/SL, either can be prefixed or suffixed to the holiday but not both. In case of sickness, the intermittent leave or weekly holiday shall count in the leave period.

Regards,
Adoni Suguresh
Sr. Executive (Pers, Admin & Ind. Rels) Rtd
Labour Laws Consultant

It is always advised to have a clear-cut leave policy in organizations to avoid such confusions. The statutory Acts are not very specific about suffix/prefix or considering intervening holidays as leave. Acts have specified how and what the eligibility is. The leave structure and policy of the company, depending on the various applicable Acts as a base and making it employee-friendly and beneficial for the employer, lies with the management. To cheat benevolent employees, the management may implement such irrational policies. On the other side, to control the level of absenteeism.

Regards,

National holidays cannot be treated as Restricted Holidays; it goes against the norms and policies of the Government of India. In this case, an intervening National holiday such as Independence Day should not be counted as leave, as it is a National Holiday. However, an intervening holiday or weekly day of rest does not count as leave if it is a Casual leave but will be counted in any other type of leave.

Regards,
S.K. Johri

Hi Ms. Savitha,

This type of leave is called Sandwich Leave. As per the Shops & Commercial Establishment Act, if any employee avails leave before and after a holiday, then the company can treat it as a 3-day leave. For example, as the 15th of August is a National Holiday (Government Declared Holiday), if you avail leave on the 14th and 16th, then it can be treated as a 3-day leave.

However, in some companies, as an employee benefit, they will consider it as only a 2-day leave. If you have a leave policy, you can follow that; otherwise, ask your management for guidance. It varies from company to company.

Yes, you are right, Jeevarathnam. Regarding Savitha, you have to talk to the personnel in charge to get a clear answer on this. Perhaps your company considers it differently. By the way, it's already the 20th of August, so I am a bit late, I guess. I just want to ask, how did it go?

Regards,

Dear all,

Greetings for the day! I have a little confusion regarding leave. I request you all to kindly help me resolve this problem.

Leave Entitlement and Adjustment

At the company where I work, we are entitled to PL, CL, SL, and CO (comp off, which is entitled to take a leave if he/she works during weekends & other holidays). The company also grants 7 days of marriage leave. If someone has taken 20 days of leave, which includes weekends as well, could you please tell me how to adjust the leaves taken? Can I adjust them with the above-mentioned leaves? Also, do we include weekend holidays for the 20 days of leave?

For example, if 20 days of leave are taken, which include 4 weekends, the remaining days are 15. Should I count the 15 days or the full 20 days?

Please clear my confusion as soon as possible.

With Warm Regards,
Gaya