How to Handle Leave Disputes When Your Boss Denies Your Request? Seeking Legal Advice and Next Steps

I applied for a leave of 10 working days (12 including Sundays) for my brother's wedding. My superior allowed only for a week, i.e., 6 days, but I had to leave for the required days since I belong to a different town. I requested an extension via email, but he declined once again. Left with no choice, I had to leave, and I sent an email explaining my failure to reduce the leave duration.

He asked the corporate HR to send me a mail and letter at my home for being absent from duty without information/approval. I replied to the corporate HR via email regarding all the discussions. I have ample annual leave balance. I even offered to forfeit the pay for the extra 4 days of leave I was requesting.

Seeking Advice on Leave Dispute

I need suggestions on how, despite informing and emailing, making all efforts and providing reasons, someone can still act on a personal vendetta. Is it legal to send the letter, and what should be the future course of action from my viewpoint?

Thank you.

"Leave is a privilege and not an entitlement" is a dogma on which the leave policy is formulated in many companies. Therefore, if your leave was approved only for 6 days instead of the 12 that you had applied for, then there must be some reason for it. We, as members of this forum, are outsiders and do not know the inner dynamics of your company.

As a compromise, you were ready to forgo your salary for the extra leave and wanted to apply for Leave Without Pay (LWP); however, that was also turned down. This, again, was at the discretion of the approving authority.

Just because you have a sufficient balance of leave does not mean it becomes grounds for approval. Various factors, such as the work culture of the company, whether you have any standby manpower, the volume of workload in your department, your relations with the superiors, how many days in advance you had applied for leave, and whether the company follows any leave plan, all play an important role in the decision-making process.

Not approving leave cannot be called vendetta. This is the most unsuitable word that you have used to describe the situation. You may check the dictionary for the correct usage of words before you write your posts on the public forum.

General comments: An employee had applied for leave. His leave was approved partially. When he overstays, HR quickly sent a letter to the employee. He had clearly specified the reasons for the leave and was in constant communication with the approving authority. In that case, what was the need to show impetuousness and mar the pleasure of his brother's marriage? The show-cause notice for unauthorized absence could have been given upon resumption of duties by the absent employee. It is this tendency to display misplaced promptitude that makes HR untrustworthy and causes mental estrangement not just with HR but with the company itself!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar