Navigating Leave Policies: How to Manage Employee Leave Requests in the First Year?

My company is registered under the Kerala Shops and Establishments Act. There are clarifications required in a few areas. Request your help.

1. The act states that leaves will be credited after 12 months of service. What if the employee wants to take leaves during the first 12 months itself? How should this be handled?

2. If he can avail these leaves, can he avail all three types of them, i.e., Sick leave, Casual leave, and earned leave?

3. If one employee is taking leaves, can he combine them (sick/earned/casual) and take the required leaves?

4. At a time, how many casual leaves can an employee take together?

5. If an employee is taking leave on Friday and the next Monday, how many leaves will be counted? Is it only 2 days or 4 days?

6. Is leave crediting done monthly or quarterly?

7. Earned leave - Is there any minimum or maximum one employee can take in one instance?

Leave Crediting and Usage Policies

Usually, when a new employee joins the organization, they will be credited with sick and casual leaves on a pro-rata basis, whereas earned leaves are credited after one year of service. Some companies follow a January-December calendar, in which case the proportionate leaves will be credited to start afresh from the next January onwards.

Though sick and earned leaves may be allowed to be combined when one runs out of sick leaves, casual leaves are basically for attending urgent personal work on a working day. They are not supposed to be combined with any other leave; company policy should dictate these rules.

Most companies do not allow more than two casual leaves in a row, and if it exceeds, it will be treated as earned leaves; company policy matters in this regard.

Leave Usage on Fridays and Mondays

Regarding taking leave on Friday and Monday, usually, this can be availed if it is an earned leave. For sick leave, of course, one has to produce a doctor's certificate, whereas casual leaves are not usually granted over a span of four consecutive days. The calculation of leaves taken on Friday and the subsequent Monday will be treated as two if the company follows the working days in a month as those on which the employees actually work (excluding weekends/holidays).

Annual Leave Crediting

Leaves are credited only once a year in general. Earned leaves are usually 15 per year, though the company may provide more than 15.

Thanks and Regards