Confused About Leave Entitlements Under Kerala Shops Act? Seeking Clarity for Small IT Firms

Hi, as per the Kerala Shops and Establishment Act (http://www.dic.kerala.gov.in/web/pdf...ralapolicy.pdf), it states that a minimum of 6 casual days and 6 sick days should be given, plus 12 PL after the first year of service.

However, somebody told me that casual leave should be 12 days, sick leave should be 12 days, and after the first year, there is a privilege leave of 12 days. If so, there would be 36 leaves and 13 public holidays, making it a total of 49 days, plus Saturdays.

Is this correct? We are a small software company, and when I enquired, all major IT companies have a maximum of 30 leaves in a year. In fact, TCS only has 26 days of annual leave, and Cognizant has 30 days holiday, including public holidays. So, are they not following the Kerala Act? In fact, they don't follow the categories of casual, sick, or PL types of leaves. They have leave with pay and sick leave, and something like that.

Can somebody please guide on how this should be given?

Leave Entitlements Under the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act

As per the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, under which your establishment is registered, you are required to provide 12 days of casual leave and 12 days of sick leave. In addition to these, 12 days of earned leave are granted once an employee completes 12 months of service. Commercial establishments are also required to observe 13 holidays a year (4 national and 9 festival holidays) as per the Kerala Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays) Act. Festival holidays should be scheduled in a way that they do not coincide with weekly off days. However, establishments employing fewer than 20 employees are exempted from this provision.

Concessions for IT Companies

According to the Kerala IT policy, IT companies have been granted certain concessions, but no relaxation has been given concerning leaves and holidays.

If major IT companies in Kerala are offering fewer leaves and holidays than the specified requirements, it should be considered as an outcome of potentially unhealthy relationships they may have with the authorities.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Please do not rely on oral versions of people or hearsay information. I would suggest you purchase a copy of the Kerala Shops and Establishment Act, which will cost about Rs. 40/- or so, and verify the position yourself. In case there are other employers giving more leave (over and above the provisions of the Act referred to above), it is discretionary on their part and cannot be claimed as a right.

Thanks and regards,

S.K. Johri

What I noticed is that all these companies have a 5-day work week. So, is there an exemption in the law for a 5-day work week or an alternative Saturday off as the number of working days in a year goes down?

Thanks,
George

No, you cannot get any relaxation even if you work for five days a week. A five-day workweek should only be considered as an arrangement for the convenience of the employer. It should also be noted that in addition to the leaves mentioned above, there are special leaves for sterilization, which amount to six days for men and 14 days for women.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Payment for Hartal Days

I am a jeweller in Perambra, Kozhikode, and I have a question. Last month in July, there were four Hartals, and neither the employer nor the employees had any connection with the reasons for the Hartals. However, the employees are requesting full-day payment for those four Hartal days. Is it legally correct for the employees to ask for payment for not working on Hartal days?

Compensation for Working on Holidays

Is it possible to request that employees work on a holiday to make up for the lost Hartal days and pay them for working on a holiday instead of granting them leave on a Hartal day?

Please suggest what about employees who are deputed from different states. Is the same leave policy applicable to them or not? If not, on what basis?

Holiday Policy for Employees on Deputation in Kerala

With regard to holidays, employees who have been working in Kerala on deputation will receive the same holidays, as these are days on which the establishment will be closed. At the same time, their leaves will be governed by the company's rules concerning deputation. However, if the deputation extends beyond one year, they should receive leaves as per the Kerala Act. The cut-off date for this is December, and if they are in deputation service in December, their names should normally appear in the application for renewal of the registration certificate under the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act. Obviously, an employee whose name is on the employee list should have a service book (in form BB).

Regards, Madhu T K

Hi, I am working as a quality analyst in an IT firm located in Cochin, Kerala. We have 10 employees, and our company has a monthly income of about 5 lakhs. How many leaves can we take annually without a salary cut? We are also working on October 2 without any additional payment and no day off on another day. Are we eligible to get all national and public holidays of the Kerala government? If we don't come to the office on a national holiday or public holidays declared by the Kerala government, our company marks this as leave.

Regards, Mithun

I hope my earlier post is very clear, and you may follow that. In short, you are entitled to casual leaves at the rate of 12 days, sick leave at the rate of 12 days, and earned leave of 12 days (once you complete 12 months of service). Since you have only 10 employees, the employer is not under any obligation to follow the National and Festival holidays provisions.

Hi Sir,

We are given off on all Sundays, 2nd Saturday, and on the last Saturday of every month. Are we eligible for casual leaves at the rate of 12 days, sick leave at the rate of 12 days, and earned leave of 12 days (once you complete 12 months of service)?

Regards,

Mithun

Whether your organization works for 5 days or 6 days is immaterial. If your establishment is a commercial establishment as per the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, you should get 12 + 12 + 12 leaves.

Dear Mr. Madhu,

As per the Kerala SCE Act, an employee should be given a maximum of 12 casual leaves and a maximum of 12 sick leaves, besides earned leaves. It doesn't specify a minimum or exactly 12 Casual/Sick Leaves. Please refer to Section 13 of the Act: http://lc.kerala.gov.in/images/pdf/ksce.pdf.

Arunanand T A

Understanding Leave Entitlement

I agree that it is the maximum leave admissible. However, you should first appreciate the structure of the sentence. It states that every employee is entitled to casual leave (CL) or sick leave (SL) not exceeding 12 days. It does not imply that an employer must provide a maximum of 12 days of CL. If that were the case, it would be up to the employer to decide how many CL or SL days to offer, and they could even provide just 1 day of CL or SL.

But when it becomes an entitlement of the employee, and they are entitled to 12 days of CL/SL or privilege leave (PL), they can certainly demand 12 days of CL/SL/PL. And they will demand that. However, their demand for leave should be restricted to a maximum of 12 days of casual leave, sick leave, or earned leave.

Our company is a Private Limited firm with 8 employees. We are allowed 12 CL & 12 PL for those who have completed 12 months of service. Public holidays (13) and all Sundays are also off.

My question is: Is it possible to carry forward unused PL/EL to the next year? If an employee resigns, is it possible to receive the salary for unused PL/EL?

Hello, I need guidance related to the current leave policies and other HR policies in effect in Kerala. Can anyone help?

Thanks & regards,
Riya