When employees save up leaves for 4-5 months and take it together?

Leave Policy Dilemma

When a company allows 21 days of leave and employees are entitled to 1.75 or 2 days of leave per month, what should the company do if employees don't take leave for, say, 4 months, and then need leave for 10 days in the 5th month? Should the company grant 10 days as the employee has not taken leave entitled for 2 days per month for the first 4 months and saved it for a requirement in the 5th month? Or should the company allow only 2 days of leave as per the rule allowed per month and later reimburse the leaves deducted at the end of the financial year?

Challenges with Leave Accumulation

This is a tricky scenario as employees sometimes tend to take leaves like this at the beginning of the month and then take their salary and quit. Another scenario is during Ganesh Utsav, where the majority of employees take leave, affecting department work. Since it's a religious company, it ends up granting leaves as per the above scenario where they save leave per month and take altogether 6-8 days.

Regards, Vaishali

An employee is entitled to leave, and you cannot force them to take only 2 days off in a month with the rest being leave without pay (LWP). The leave entitlement varies based on the company policy. Some companies allow employees to use their monthly leave credits, while others credit the full balance of 21 days after completion of one year. Since you permit employees to use 21 days of leave per year on a monthly basis, you should allow them to take the applicable 7 days, and the remaining would stand as LWP.

Thank you.

Can we allow 2 days per month and deduct any additional leave taken, later reimbursing for the same at the end of the financial year.

Vaishali

Leave as an Employment Benefit

"Leave" is generally an employment benefit granted to employees, whether industrial or otherwise, for three important purposes: (1) to be away from work for a shorter duration necessitated by unforeseen circumstances like falling sick temporarily, the employee himself, or any member of his immediate family, attending some personal works for which no substitution could be employed, and the like; (2) to be away from work on certain predetermined occasions to discharge family or social obligations; and (3) to be away from the monotony of work for the purpose of refreshment and rejuvenation for a considerable length of time, like availing of LTC.

Leave Policy Considerations

How much leave an employee can take at a stretch, what types of leave could be combined for a longer duration, what specific type of leave requires prior sanction well in advance so that alternative arrangements of the charge of the employee's post could be made, and combining holidays as a prefix and/or suffix to any spell of leave, etc., are matters to be covered by the Leave Policy of the organization. Such reasonable restrictions indicate that leave cannot be claimed as a matter of right by the employee. The employer has the discretion to grant or refuse the leave asked for based on the exigencies of work. As long as the discretion is exercised by the employer in a fair and reasonable manner, taking into account the genuineness of the purpose of leave applied for by the employee, there will be no problem.

Employer's Discretion and Leave Encashment

But if the employer is obsessed with the preconceived notion that availing of leave should be as minimal as possible since the employee has the benefit of encashment of leave at the end of the year or leave should be sanctioned strictly on a pro-rata basis only, that will certainly defeat the very purpose of leave provisions in the realm of employment.

Hi Vaishali, for an important festival like Ganesh Utsav, everyone wants to celebrate with fervor, and hence, can't do much. However, for those who wish to take 10 days of leave consecutively in a department, please grant 10 days of leave before Ganesh Utsav begins for 50% of employees. The remaining employees can take their 10 days of leave after Ganesh Utsav. Anyway, on Ganesh Utsav day, the entire company won't be working (except for security personnel, I believe). Make the employees aware of their responsibilities and encourage them to share the responsibilities of those who are on leave.

Challenges with Leave Management in Non-MNC Companies

In the real world, where the company is not an MNC or in the IT sector, I notice that employees often don't consider the impact of all being on leave for 10 days. It is simply expected that the company will understand and grant them leaves, which we have been doing. The main reason I am seeking solutions now is that some employees take advantage of this situation. They use all their leaves and then leave for other jobs. While I understand that an employee can leave a job for better prospects, not serving the notice period, enjoying all leaves for reasons like festivals or social events, and then collecting their salary and leaving is very unfair to companies. Therefore, I want a fair solution for leaves requested for more than 2 days per month.

Regards, Vaishali

Granting Leave from the Start of the Year

It would be good if you can grant leave to an employee from the 1st month of the year or their joining date until the month of the request. For example, if leaves start in January and the employee wants leave in September, you can grant 9 CLs at a time if they haven't applied for any.

Work from Home in Emergencies

If the associate can work from home, the manager can request them to work from home in case of an emergency for 0-2 hours, not for the entire day. If working for more than this duration, it can be treated as a half working day, but the manager cannot force the employee to do so.

Quarterly Leave Provision

It would be beneficial for a company to provide leaves on a quarterly basis.