Understanding Leave Salary: Are Employees Absent All Month Still Eligible?

Hi friends,

I have a major clarification regarding the N & F holiday act. My question is: if an employee is absent for the entire month, such as August, is that particular person eligible for leave salary? Please clarify.

Any day of leave, such as a weekly off/weekly holiday or a national/festival holiday falling within a period of absence, will automatically merge with the period of absence. Consequently, not only will the salary for the intervening holiday/leave days be affected, but these days will also not be considered for continuity of service for the individual.

Hi Karthik,

Firstly, please refer to your company's leave policy. If you don't have such policies in place, it means that any employee absence for duty during the intervening weekly off or non-functional holidays should be considered as leave.

Thank you.

If an employee remains absent for the whole month, you do not need to pay wages for the national festival day for him/her. Also, a minimum 90-day eligibility is stipulated in the act for a new joiner to earn wages for the national festival day.

In your case, if that employee has not attended duty for that month, which is considered unauthorized absence, you do not need to pay. There may be different arguments stating that we have to pay, but practically speaking, very few people pay that way. My advice is not to pay for that absentee. However, in the meantime, check whether he/she has availed leave from ESIC.

Regards

In any case where an employee is absent for the entire month and any National or Festival holiday falls within that absence period, they are not eligible for wages for such a holiday. This is because they have not worked for the entire month. As a result, you are not required to pay for those holidays.

For a national or festival holiday falling in between, absenteeism by an employee need not be paid. However, a national holiday that falls in between paid leave of an employee means it should be paid. The 90 days worked before the national holiday is not the criteria for payment; this rule only applies to Festival Holidays.

For a national holiday, either the day worked before or after the holiday or being present in the rolls on the day of the national holiday without any absenteeism for a long period has to be taken into account.

Any holiday, whether festival, national, or weekly off, coming in between the leave/absenteeism is treated as leave/absence, so no extra salary is required to be paid. Lastly, the salary would not be applicable since the employee was physically not present on the day of the National/Festival Holiday.

If an employee's name is listed on the Rolls of the establishment, he is eligible for payment of wages on the NATIONAL HOLIDAY. As far as T N is concerned, there are four: 26th Jan, 1st May, 15th Aug, and 2nd October. In respect of Festival Holiday, he will be eligible from the 60th day. Please quote the section which states that wages for National Holiday are not payable if he is absent for the entire month???

K S Pasupathi

Dear Ganesan IR,

Your prefix/suffix condition cannot be seen anywhere in any statute books. Please correct yourself; otherwise, provide any supporting papers to justify your stand.

Dear All,

Despite various arguments among us, we can once again thoroughly review the festival holidays act and rules of Tamil Nadu (TN) for TN and for the respective states for their state holidays. The respective festival holiday rules will also apply to national holidays.

Thanks and Regards,

V. Ganesan
IR Specialist

An employee is eligible for a national holiday payment if they have worked one-third of the days in the 90 days immediately preceding the national holiday in question. The salary might not be prepared if they were fully on leave, but if they claim, they are eligible for the payment. Even if they are absent for the entire month of August, their one-day national holiday leave should be credited to their account if they have worked one-third of the continuous days (including weekly holidays) before Independence Day. I hope this clarifies your question.

Regards,
Karthikn.G