How Can I Create a Fair Leave Policy for Field Employees with Unique Work Hours?

Leave Policy Challenges for Field Employees

I am working as an HR professional in the food industry located in Andhra Pradesh. In our company, there are two types of employees: factory employees and field employees. For factory employees, we have a regular leave policy without any issues. The main challenge lies with the field employees. They work in the field from 6:00 am to 9 or 10 pm, depending on their tasks. They rarely take leaves and work on Sundays, festival holidays, and national holidays as well. The peak season for them is from October to April. After that period, they do not face as much work pressure.

Developing a Separate Leave Policy

My management has asked me to develop a separate leave policy for field employees. I am feeling confused and have requested input from senior colleagues regarding this situation. The general leave policy we follow in our factory includes 12 Casual Leaves (CL), 12 Sick Leaves (SL), and Earned Leaves (EL) based on attendance. I am unsure how to apply this policy to field employees. Please provide suggestions.

Dear friend, you are on a noble cause to take care of agricultural laborers. May God bless you. It appears that although they are all working in field duties, taking care of seasonal requirements (in your orchards, I presume), they are borne on your regular muster roll as regular employees. I also presume they are covered under the respective acts/rules with respect to EPF, Maternity Benefits, ESI, Bonus, Gratuity, Minimum wages, etc. It's difficult to comprehend or apply one set of personnel rules for one group and different rules for another group within the same company for the simple reason that their work conditions are different (based on duty timings), etc. I do recognize the need to deploy the farm workers during wee hours and all holidays and rest days without a break. And I couldn't advocate lesser benefits compared to their counterparts back in towns and cities; on the contrary, they deserve liberal and preferential benefits in every aspect for the sacrifices they make in fields. I'm pained to see what injustice is meted out to farm laborers (collarless) in our country compared to the so-called white/blue/grey-collared executives. Why should they be treated as inferior to urbanites? I, therefore, suggest the same set of rules, with due extra remuneration for holiday, rest day, and OT work, which will form part of your leave policy also.

Recently, the GoI codified all labor-related acts/rules into fewer codes/acts, which are indicated in the appended link. You may take some clue from this as well to form your opinion to deal with the matter. There are a few acts which apply to estates like tea, coffee, and other plantation businesses which also can be consulted.

Quote - "In line with the recommendations of the 2nd National Commission on Labor, the Ministry of Labor & Employment has taken steps for simplification, amalgamation, and rationalization of Central Labor Laws and replacing them with 4 Labor Codes viz. Code on Wages, Code on Industrial Relations, Code on Social Security & Welfare, and Code on Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions. Out of these, the first two i.e. Code on Wages and Code on Industrial Relations were earlier drafted and put on the Website of the Ministry of Labor & Employment inviting comments of the stakeholders/public. Both these Codes are under consideration of the Government at present. The Ministry has since prepared a Preliminary draft of the Code on Social Security & Welfare by amalgamating all existing Labor Laws related to Social Security (total 15 Labor Laws including EPF Act, ESI Act, Maternity Benefit Act, Payment of Gratuity Act, Employees Compensation Act, Unorganized Social Security Act, and various Welfare Cess/Fund Acts). The draft of the Code on Social Security & Welfare is attached.

https://labour.gov.in/sites/default/...0Welfare_0.pdf

I am working as an HR in the water and wastewater industry.

Types of Employees

In our company, there are two types of employees: factory/office employees and field employees (on project sites).

Current Leave Policy

For factory/office employees, we have a regular leave policy without any disturbance.

Challenges with Field Employees' Leave Policy

The main problem is with the field employees' leave policy. They work in the field full day and full week. They do not take any leaves, working on Sundays, festival holidays, and national holidays as well.

Request for Separate Leave Policy

So, my management is asking me to prepare a separate leave policy for field employees (on-site employees). I'm confused and request seniors to provide their valuable inputs in this situation.

General Leave Policy

The general leave policy we follow in our factory/office includes CL 06, SL 06, EL 15.

Application to Field Employees

How can we apply this policy to field employees? Please provide suggestions.

Presuming that both categories are on the permanent roll of your company, permit me to say this: your thinking that you should have two sets of categories only because the other category is employed in field duty is, in my opinion, an "unfair labor practice." It tries to discriminate based on the place of work, despite the fact that they work long/extended duty hours and are denied holidays and leave. I strongly feel you should extend the same leave policy, pay holiday wages, and provide overtime pay for the extended working hours as they are also your regular employees. Even if you consider them contract labor, there cannot be a leave policy that is inconsistent with the Acts.

Considerations for Labor Policies

Your labor policies will have to depend on what kind of registration the unit has. If it's a factory, then the Factories Act will apply accordingly. If you have different kinds of duty hours (split duty, i.e., commencing early in the morning, then a long gap, and then resuming, etc.), it appears to me that duty hours and leave policies applied to farm/forest/plantation laborers may be akin for adoption. I have attached a copy of the Plantation Labor Act, which may be helpful to gain some insight.

Policies for Farm Laborers

Additionally, policies for farm laborers engaged in orchards, agricultural universities, forest and agricultural departments (including horticultural, fruits, and vegetable fields) can be utilized to draft policies for your requirements.