Confused About Leave Policy? Why Are Extra Days Deducted at the Start of the Year?

Hi, please suggest. The company has a leave policy that states employees can accumulate up to 75 days of leave. Only 12 days of earned leave (EL) can be carried forward to the next year. EL accumulation is on a pro-rata basis, i.e., 1.5 days per month. An employee had 72 days of EL as of December 31, 2017, but on January 1st, the leave balance became 57 (15 days of EL were deducted from the account). The explanation provided is as follows:

Carry Forwarded: 57

Reserved EL for 2017: 18

Maximum Accumulation: 75

Whenever there is a leave taken, it is deducted from the 57 days balance, and 1.5 days of leave are added every month.

My point is, when accumulation is set at 75 days as per policy, why should they deduct an additional 15 days from the account? Why should HR assume that employees will accumulate 18 days in advance and deduct them prematurely? Employees who are in January may not stay until December, yet there is an assumption and deduction made. If employees are not provided with advance leave, why the premature deduction? Lapsing should occur at the year-end if it exceeds 75 days, not at the beginning of the year. If only 12 days are carried forward to the next year, HR should assume only 12 days for 2017, not 18 days. Please help.

Please note that the accumulation of earned leaves, which is fixed at 75 days by your establishment (however under the Factories Act, it is 30 days), is considered for carrying forward the balance of leaves to the new calendar year. The process of deducting leaves in advance, which have to be earned, from your carry forward balance is, of course, not logical.

P K Sharma

If the EL limit is 75 days, the HR has to ensure that the leave cannot be deducted before reaching the limit of 75 days. If your HR is deducting leaves before accumulating the limit, it is a wrong practice, to the best of my knowledge. Kindly clarify with the Leave Policy of your company if it is stated accordingly.

Dear Sir,

At the time of Full and Final settlement, the balance of EL is calculated based on the Basic Salary or Gross Salary. Could you please clarify this for me?

Thank you.