Sandwich Leave Confusion: Should Both Sundays Count as Leave Days?

Please clarify if I was on leave from Monday (07.05.2018) to Monday (14.05.2018). As per the rule, only one Sunday i.e., 13.05.2018 should be considered as leave, while my company is deducting the previous Sunday's money (06.05.2018) as per the sandwich rule. Is this correct? Kindly confirm.

This is with reference to your query.

Yes, you are correct. As per policy, only one Sunday, i.e., 13.05.18, shall be treated as leave as it falls during the leave period. However, the previous Sunday, i.e., 06.05.18, should be treated as a weekly off as it is prefixed with the leave period but does not fall under it.

Basic Rules for Leave Calculation

Kindly refer to the basic rules below for your better understanding:

- Weekly off/Paid Holidays falling during the leave period shall be counted as part of the leave.
- One day or more leave cannot be suffixed and prefixed with W/off and paid holiday.
- Either it is to be prefixed or suffixed but not both; leave cannot be sandwiched between two paid holidays or paid holidays & W/off.

Treating the preceding Sunday as part of PL is incorrect because you earn a weekly off by working fully during the previous week. Whether to treat weekly off/paid holidays falling during the leave period as part of the leave depends on the leave policy/rules of the company. The general practice is to treat it as part of leave. Under a recent amendment in the Maharashtra Shops Act, privilege leave is allowed exclusive of the weekly off and holidays falling before, during, and at the end of the leave period.

Regards, Vinayak Nagarkar
HR Consultant