Understanding Leave Calculations: How Do You Count Days Off Around Weekends and Holidays?

Case 1: One of my employees is applying for leave on 5th March. They will be working on 1st March (Thursday), 2nd (Holi on Friday), with the 3rd and 4th being the weekend (Saturday and Sunday). The 5th March is Monday, the day the leave is applied for, and they will be back on 6th March (Tuesday). How many leaves should be considered?

Case 2: Someone came in on Friday, 10th, for half a day, and then took leave on Monday, 13th. The weekend falls on 11th and 12th (Saturday and Sunday), and they will be back on 14th (Tuesday). How many leaves should be considered?

Basically, this leave calculation is based on your leave policy. However, from a third-party perspective, in the first case, assuming the 3rd is a declared holiday under the festival holidays list, and the 3rd and 4th are weekly holidays, then he has taken one day leave on Monday, the 5th.

Similarly, in the second case, he has availed 1.5 days of leave to be deducted!

For case 1, how many leave should be considered? According to my HR, they are saying that 3 days will be deducted. You have to be present on both days of the holiday.

Dear Sandeep, only when a leave applied for by the employee falls between general holidays for the establishment does the question of prefixing or suffixing those holidays arise. Suppose the employee does not go on leave, would you not allow them to enjoy the holiday? Please bear in mind that I am referring to general holidays and weekly holidays during which the entire establishment remains closed, not the weekly-off due to that particular employee coming on a rotation basis depending on the consecutive days of actual work in the span of the concerned week. In my view, your HR has failed to understand this.

Dear Member, with an assumption that your company is covered under the provisions of Shops and Establishments, please refer to the latest amendments in the Shops and Establishment Act. Amendments in Leave Provisions

As per Section 18(9) of the amended act: "The leaves admissible under this section shall be exclusive of all holidays whether occurring during or either at the end of the period of leave." This means that weekly offs and/or festival holidays should not be considered as leave.

Hope you find this of help.

Regards, Preetam Deshpande
ShubhYog Consultancy Services
sycs.in