Are Employees Entitled to Comp Offs for Weekends Spent on Official Tours? Seeking Insights

I have a case in my company. There is a person who remains on an official tour for the first 15 days of every month (within the country). Hence, two of his week-offs (Sunday) are exhausted during the tour every month. Although he does not work on Sunday and stays in the company-provided hotel for the whole day, he claims to get these week-offs compensated with a complementary day off in the remaining 15 days of the month.

Entitlement to Compensatory Offs

I need to know if a person is on an official tour and not working on such a week-off, is there any clause mentioned in any article that such days will be considered as overtime? Is he really entitled to get these comp offs? If anybody has any information regarding this, kindly share here. Also, if there is any such clause mentioned in any article, please share here.

Regards

Compensatory Off Policy Considerations

More than policy, these matters depend on the level of the person, their motivation to work extra, etc. It appears that the person in question is at a managerial level. Had they been an AGM or GM, then I don't think they would have claimed compensatory off.

In your case, the gentleman is claiming compensatory off for being "away from family" or rather "unavailable at the duty station." Nevertheless, compensatory offs are given when a person works on Sundays or Closed Holidays. Therefore, you may establish the following rules for compensatory off while on an official tour:

a) If the employee works for more than eight hours during Sundays and Closed Holidays, then they are eligible for a compensatory off.

b) If the employee works up to six hours during Sundays and Closed Holidays, then they are eligible for a half-day compensatory off.

c) If the employee was away on tour but does not work on Sundays and Closed Holidays, then they are not eligible to get any time off.

Compensatory off is always tricky. We cannot have a rigid policy. Both sides need to be flexible. What about the time spent in travel on Sunday and Closed Holidays? What about overnight travel? A large number of professionals travel overnight and attend sales calls or conferences during the day. How do we design the policy in such cases? In such situations, Directors or VPs may be flexible and give them time off when their subordinates need it most, i.e., to visit school, attend to family members during sickness, etc. This time off is in addition to regular leave.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

In accordance with the policy, public servants are not entitled to any compensatory time off in the given situation. Furthermore, Gazetted Officers are not entitled to any compensatory time off, even after working on holidays or weekends.

Thank you!