How Should Salary Be Calculated for an Employee Suspended for 6 Days?

Dear All,

I work for an SME in highway maintenance and operations company in Corporate HR. At one of our sites in West Bengal, one employee was suspended for 6 days, and he joined back after an apology letter was received from him in the same month. Kindly guide me about his salary calculation for the month.

Types of Suspension

There is no mention in the post about the cause of action and the procedures followed by the management before suspension. Normally, suspension is of two kinds: (1) suspension pending enquiry and (2) punitive suspension, i.e., suspension awarded as a punishment as per the Standing Orders as a final result of disciplinary proceedings.

In the former, you will have to pay subsistence allowance for the entire period of suspension at the rate fixed in the Standing Orders. Punitive suspension has no entitlement to salary, and it will not be taken into account for determining qualifying service for the purpose of terminal benefits.

Regards

We had issued the employee two warning letters, which he refused to accept, so the letters were posted to his home address. Despite the warning letters, there was no change in his behavior. As a result, a suspension letter was issued to him. Basically, he was given time to improve, and on the 7th day, after an apology letter from him, he was taken back on duty.

Query on Salary Calculation After Suspension

My query is, after the employee is taken back on duty, for the suspension period, does he have to be paid a subsistence allowance and the rest days of the month's normal salary, or the entire salary for the month?

Regards

As mentioned by Umakantha sir, you are required to provide subsistence allowance only when the suspension is pending inquiry. In this case, you have suspended him as a punishment, so the subsistence allowance does not apply to him. Additionally, according to the Standing Orders Act, you can suspend a worker for a maximum of four days as part of a punishment.

Unfortunately, the suspension imposed for six days does not align with the act's regulations. However, this oversight should not pose an issue as long as the worker does not object. If the employee was suspended for six days and was not permitted to work during this period, then the question of subsistence allowance does not arise.

Please review the above points and ensure compliance with the relevant regulations.

Thank you.

Suspension and Salary Calculation Guidance

From your post, we can assume that you have suspended the workmen without following any disciplinary procedures. Have you issued any suspension order? If so, for how many days? Our friend Mr. Umakanthan, Sir, has given his opinion rightly. Since the employee has realized his attitudes and submitted an apology letter, which you have accepted, it doesn't matter. However, you should issue him a letter allowing him to return to duty and directing him not to repeat such misconduct or any other acts tantamount to misconduct. You can deduct the salary for the days he was not on duty. The question of subsistence allowance does not arise in this case.

Regards,
Adoni Suguresh
Labour Laws Consultant

Thanks to Mr. Adoni Suguresh for his remarks drawing our attention to yet another perspective—i.e., how to treat the period of suspension already undergone and subsequently revoked upon his tendering an apology.

The starting point of the entire episode is the refusal of the employee to receive the warning letters, the ultimate purpose of which was granting time and opportunity to improve upon his job performance, thus compelling service by post. So, the matter of poor/non-performance has already come to a logical end by the issuance of the warning letter. If any action is required, it all depends upon his future performance. However, the question of the suspension for six days is not yet over with its revocation based on the letter of apology. The revocation probably shows that the apology tendered by the employee might be unconditional. Therefore, the misconduct of refusal to receive a lawful order of communication still remains at large.

If the management thinks enough is enough, it may let him off leniently with yet another warning or treat the suspension already undergone as punishment. Payment of subsistence allowance and salary for the period depends on the time lapsed. If the month is not yet over, neither subsistence allowance nor salary need to be paid for the six days if final orders are passed treating the entire period as punitive suspension. Otherwise, subsistence allowance has to be paid along with the salary for the remaining working days.

Dear Umakanthan ji,

From your advice, we can conclude the following:
1) If the management issues a separate order stating the cancellation of the suspension order and allows him to resume duty with a requirement to tender his apology as punishment for the suspension, then it becomes acceptable.
2) If no such order is issued, then the management will have to pay the salary along with the suspension allowance for 06 days.

Kindly clarify, please.

Yes, Rajesh. Whenever an employee is placed under suspension and after some time the same is revoked, how the period is treated matters much. Either it should be treated as punishment at the close of the disciplinary proceedings subject to the provisions of punitive suspension prescribed in the standing orders or service regulations, or it has to be treated as duty in view of the other punishment awarded, and the salary minus the subsistence allowance already given must be paid.

Mr. Darshana,

You must have read the opinions given on your query by our learned contributing members in this forum. Based on the opinions of members, in your best interest, it would be better to give feedback on the case or interact on the topic.

Adoni Suguresh
Labour Laws Consultant

I want to know if a person is suspended for 6 days from Monday to Saturday, will they receive pay for Sunday or not?