Leave Dilemma: How Do You Count Days Around a Holiday? Seeking Advice from HR Veterans

I am an Asst. Manager-HR in my company. I need clarification and solicit help from seniors. If an employee takes a leave on the previous day of a holiday and also takes a leave on the day after a holiday, is it considered as a 2-day leave or 3-day leave? Kindly clarify and help - Latha

Dear Latha, It may not be out of context to highlight that a proper understanding of the concept of leave will facilitate an HR Manager to discharge their role effectively as a recommending or leave sanctioning authority in an organization. The term "leave" in employment parlance means a leave of absence from work on working day(s). It implies prior intimation and approval so that the work of the establishment does not get affected by making alternative arrangements. In short, leave is a welfare measure to facilitate the employee to be away from their routine work to discharge social and personal obligations, get treated for small and unexpected physical ailments, or get refreshed from the monotony of continuous work and rejuvenated occasionally, subject to the approval or prior sanction of the employer depending on the type of leave asked.

In actual practice, approval for combining one kind of leave with other kinds or with holidays, either intervening or prefixing/suffixing, depends on many factors such as leave rules of the establishment, the length and purpose of the leave required, nature of the duties or responsibilities of the incumbent, the discretion of the employer in view of the exigencies of work, and the like. Again, the liberality or stringency in the matter of leave sanction varies from establishment to establishment depending on its functions and work culture as well.

Clarification on Leave with Intervening Holidays

Coming directly to your query, if the intervening holiday is a day of no work for the entire establishment, well, its combination with the preceding and succeeding days of actual leave can be permitted as two days of leave with permission for the holiday. In case the holiday is a festival or national holiday, the employee has the option of working or availing of the holiday and henceforth also it is to be treated as permission and not as leave. If it is a day of the weekly-off, then it is also to be treated as permission for the reason that the days spent on authorized leave in the week have to be treated as duty.

Regards

Dear Mr. Umakanth, the point suggested by you seems very logical and also labor welfare-related. I do admire your suggestions. Being a retired ALC, you have vast experience on issues related to labor disputes. Please also clarify if there is any defined leave policy by the establishment (under the Factory Act, Shops & Est. Act) having a labor license for the contract.

Still, we need to allow the W/off holidays (national festivals) that are falling between the leaves. Is there any defined leave rule for the workers (published by any regulating government office through any notification)?

As per my opinion, only PL (paid leave) and national holidays are mandatory. Allowing SL and CL is an optional decision by the management. If the worker has availed sufficient PL and any holiday/W-off appears in between two or more PL, in that case, the management must allow the same. If the worker has no PL balance, the decision can be taken as per the defined leave policy. Generally, all days are considered as leave/absent if there is no leave (CL-SL-PL) balance. We are following the same under CLA, but if any worker goes on CL-SL, the holiday is also treated as leave.

Hope fellow members agree with me, please correct me if any changes are required.

Thank you very much for your compliments and further queries, which have truly inspired me to delve deep into the subject of leave and holidays in the realm of industrial employment and to offer my views to the best of my knowledge and understanding.

Determinants of Leave Policy

Generally, the Leave Policy of an Industrial Undertaking is formulated by several determinants such as applicable Employment Laws, the nature of activities in which people are engaged, socio-religious customs, age-old cultural practices, bargaining power of Trade Unions, the magnitude of the Management's people-orientation, and the like. The Leave Policy, apart from deciding the nature and number of leaves and holidays allowed in a year as per the existing legal standards or in excess, also lays down the permissible norms of enjoyment such as prior-intimation or formal application, approval or prior-sanction, combination of leaves and holidays, leave encashment, etc.

Difference Between Leave and Holiday

Although the terms "leave" and "holiday" are often used interchangeably, there is actually a subtle difference in their meanings. The word "holiday" originates from the religious term "holyday," signifying a day of complete rest without any work. The only holy aspect of it in the realm of employment is that the employee need not make any application to the employer to avail of a holiday that has already been declared. On the contrary, "leave" denotes prior permission or leave of absence from work when the necessity arises. In short, a holiday indicates general permission to be away from work on specified occasions, while leave implies specific permission to be away from work necessitated by personal reasons of the individual employee. Its sanction is subject to the discretion of the employer depending on the exigencies of work, and therefore, leave cannot normally be claimed as a matter of right. Thus, holidays and leave form parts of the several negotiable conditions of employment.

Classification of Labor Legislations

The entire Labor Legislations in our country can be classified into major categories, namely:

1. Establishment-oriented Labor Laws such as the Factories Act, 1948, the Mines Act, 1952, Shops and Establishments Acts, etc.
2. Monetary or Wage-related Labor Laws such as the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, etc.
3. Service-conditions related Laws such as the Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act, National and Festival Holidays Acts, Payment of Subsistence Allowance Acts, etc.
4. Industrial Relations Laws such as the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Trade Unions Act, 1926, etc.
5. Social Security Legislations such as the Employees Compensation Act, 1923, the ESI Act, 1948, the EPF Act, 1952, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, etc.

Every establishment would certainly fall into one of the first category, i.e., Establishment-oriented Legislation. Even among them, the leave provisions differ mainly because of the nature of their activities. While Casual Leave is available in the Shops Acts, there is no CL in the Factories Act. Therefore, the leave policy of the establishment should align with the minimum scales of leave prescribed in the applicable Law. As far as I know, no norms are prescribed in any such LAW regarding the permissible combination of various leaves and/or holidays in a single spell. Similarly, it is the option of the employee to avail a particular type of leave in their credit. Of course, when there is no such leave in their credit, it is at the discretion of the employer to sanction whatever kind of leave is in their credit, and in case of no leave at all, they can sanction leave on loss of pay or wages. However, I do not believe it is proper to deny a holiday simply by treating it as another kind of leave just because it falls in between. Seniors may shed more light on this aspect.

Regards

Leave Administration and Management Rules

This is in reference to your query on CiteHR regarding the prefixing and suffixing of leave. Thank you for reaching out.

HR must frame the leave rules keeping in mind the interests of both the company and its employees. I have developed combined rules governing:

- All types of leaves
- Rules for earning W/O
- Short and long leave rules
- Extra work - Co-Off rules, Co-Off application & register
- Reduction of leave due to absenteeism
- L.W.O.P. (Leave Without Pay)
- M.B. rules
- P.L. encashment + application for encashment forms + registers

Leave administration and management is an important HR function and a challenging task, not only for those who frame the leave rules but also for the HR staff who have to administer them in their day-to-day work. Conflicts with employees can arise when leave rules are not clearly spelled out. Each company's management frames the rules to suit its business needs, and these can vary from company to company. However, they must be drafted within the scope of rules framed under the Factories and S&CE Acts.

Most employees try to save leave, as unavailed leave is what they will receive as encashment when they leave the service. Similarly, the company also wants employees to exhaust their leave to reduce the company's burden/liability for encashment when employees leave the service.

As the urgency to take leave cannot be predicted, some employees may leave in the middle of the week (e.g., from Friday and return on Wednesday) as opposed to planned leave (e.g., from Monday to Saturday) to save on prefixing and suffixing Sunday/holiday/weekly off. When an employee suddenly leaves due to urgency in the middle of the week and returns after 4-5 days, how should the intervening W/O be adjusted to save their W/O?

Short Leave and Long Leave Policy

HR can frame short leave and long leave policies so that employees in need will not lose their W/O during critical times. Only when long leave is taken (planned leave), will the intervening W/O count.

Similarly, providing two optional holidays in the holiday list for 2015 will benefit both the company and its employees. We have already filed/declared the holiday list with the Factory Inspector, L.C., and on the notice board. We also have rules to give W/Off as per the Factories/Shops & Estt. Act. We have rules for the minimum days to work/apply leave with pay in a week to entitle an employee for W/Off. We should have short and long leave rules policies so that employees' grievances of losing W/O due to taking short leave in the middle of the week will not occur, and HR will not be blamed for not framing proper leave rules.

Today, the HR department is becoming a target for not framing or implementing progressive leave rules, although leave rules are available to take care of both employees' interests and those of the company.

I can assist in the framing of all the rules and policies. I have served over 30 years in HR, IR, legal, and administrative work across six manufacturing companies and have dealt with all situations, ISO certifications, consultants' work, etc.

Please provide me with some details of the company, such as the company's name, location, your mobile number, email ID, HR department staff, total employee strength, products manufactured, etc., so that I can offer HR consultancy.

Please provide your email ID to send a consultancy proposal with all policies to set up the HR department, frame SO, leave rules, etc.

Thanks.

[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
HR Consultant & Advocate, Ex-AGM (HR&A),
Rahaman Bldg., Chikkamaranahalli, Devasandra, BANGALURU, Karnataka, S. India.
FS 478, Dr. Ambedkar High School, CM Lay Out, HIRIYUR
Mobile No. [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]
Email: [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
Email: [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
Qualification: BA, LLB, PGDPM, (MBA-HR)
Ex-Member, NIPM, Calcutta, Ex-Trainee-Member, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Languages Known: All South Indian Languages + English & Hindi

To my knowledge, prefixing and suffixing declared holidays (as per the leave rules of the employer) is generally permissible in almost all establishments, be it government, quasi-government, or private sectors. However, intervening holidays or weekly holidays have to be accounted for as leave, which is unavoidable. I have not come across any establishment not following this stipulation. However, for operational compulsions, it is expedient to obtain necessary permission for the entire period for which the leave of absence is required, including for prefixing and suffixing, and intervening holidays/weekly off. These will be treated as on leave and debited to the relevant type of leave account.