Paid Holiday Dilemma: Is an Employee Still Eligible if Absent Before and After?

Dear Professionals,

I am Ketan Bhatt, working in the industry sector in Gujarat. My question is, if an employee is absent before and after a paid holiday, are they still eligible for the paid holiday? For example, 15th August was a paid holiday, and the employee in question was absent on the 14th and 16th of August. Can you please advise me on this matter?

Thank you.

Dear Ketan,

He is not eligible for paid holiday on the 15th of August. You will need to adjust three days from his annual leave, i.e., the 14th, 15th, and 16th.

Regards,
Dinesh

[Positive Touchpoints](http://dineshkundu19802.blogspot.com/)

Sir,

It depends on company rules. Generally, the company does not cut or deduct leave. But if it happens regularly, HR should deduct leave from the balance.

As an HR professional, we should not be rude, but we should follow some rules. If an employee consistently repeats the same behavior, then you can establish a policy for pre and post leave.

National holidays should not be treated as a loss of pay even when prefix and suffix days are not present for the individual employee. Pay should be given for national holidays such as Republic Day, Independence Day, May Day, and Gandhi Jayanthi. If an employee is on leave or absent on other festival holidays, it can be debited to their leave balance if they have credit or can be treated as a loss of pay.

Thanks

For government employees, the norm is that holidays could be suffixed or prefixed, but otherwise, it would be treated as leave. The only exception is regarding casual leave, which is treated as duty.

15th August is Independence Day (National Holiday) and also a Saturday followed by a Sunday on 16th August. He has been only absent on 14th Aug, and only one day will be deducted. If I were the applicant, I could easily take the company to task for their illegal deduction of my wages.

It depends on the agreement between the union and management. Otherwise, a prefix and suffix policy (sandwich leave) should be developed. It also sometimes depends on your calculation factor, i.e., 26 or 31 days for payroll. Seniors, please correct me if I am wrong.

Dear Ketan,

As per company policy, we can deduct his PH, but as per employee relationship, we should give PH to the particular employees because we can manage the relationship between employees effectively.

Thank you.

If an employee is on leave for the whole month and a national holiday falls in that month, will they still receive holiday pay?

Hi, if anyone takes sanctioned leave one day before the National Festival holiday, will they be eligible for the disbursement of NFH?

National Holidays and Leave Policies

National holidays are not granted if the prefix and suffix are holidays. However, this varies from company to company. If the company follows a sandwich leave policy, then it has to be deducted; otherwise, it can be considered if the employee is permanent and has a good rapport with the superiors.

Overtime and Salary Under Different Acts

Under the Industrial Act, if workers are assigned work on public holidays, double overtime and salary are provided. However, for the Shops and Establishment Act, this policy varies from employer to employer.