Is Taking Leave a Right or a Privilege? Seeking Insights on Labour Laws and Employer Decisions

Dear CiteHRians,

Request you to please provide your valuable inputs on the below enumerated points.

1. What are the various provisions as laid down in the Labour Laws pertaining to the employee for taking his leave?

2. Can an employer deny a privilege leave that is applied for by the employee well in advance and is also approved by his manager?

Warm Regards,
Dinesh Sudhakar Jadhav

Hi,

Leave eligibility, as stipulated under different laws (Shops and Establishment Act, Factories Act, etc.), varies based on the coverage companies/factories have to follow. When it comes to sanctioning leave, the authority lies with the employer/supervisor of the employee, depending on work assignments. An approved leave may be denied by an employer due to emergent work, which can be mutually discussed and resolved within the establishment.

Thank you for the clarification, sir. I would like to understand much more in-depth whether there is any judgment or provision in the law that allows or defends this action.

Warm Regards,
Dinesh Sudhakar Jadhav

Dear Dinesh, leave is a statutory employment benefit available to employees during the course of their employment. However, enjoyment of this benefit is subject to the discretionary sanction of the employer based on exigencies of work. Therefore, leave can never be claimed by the employee as a right or privilege.

Establishment-Specific Labor Laws

Every establishment-specific labor law has its own kinds of leave depending on the nature of the activity of the establishment, and the scales of such leave are also different from establishment to establishment. For example, the Factories Act, 1948, and the Plantations Labor Act, 1951 provide for only one kind of leave, viz., Annual Leave With Wages, to their workmen. In contrast, the various Shops and Establishments Acts provide for three types of leave, viz., Casual Leave, Sick Leave, and Privilege Leave. If you peruse the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees Act, 1955, and the Sales Promotion Employees Act, 1976, you will find, inter alia, Leave on one half of the wages on a medical certificate proportionate to the period spent on duty. However, the provisions of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 facilitate the fixation and grant of different kinds of leave which are not statutorily available or higher scales of leave by means of incorporation in the standing orders applicable to the establishments through the process of Collective Bargaining.

Sanction or Refusal of Leave

Regarding the aspect of sanction or refusal of leave by the employer, I reiterate that it is the discretion of the employer. However, in the case of certain types of leave such as Casual Leave and Sick Leave, the very name would suggest the occasion for their application is unpredictable, and Half-pay leave on a medical certificate would take away the discretion of the employer. Therefore, an ideal leave sanction procedure needs to be implemented with fairness, flexibility, and a considerate attitude and not dominated or dictated by a rigid workaholic tendency.

As far as I know, every labor law provides the relief in respect of refused Earned Leave to be added to the leave accumulation of the individual. Though it is undeniable that every immediate or hassle-free sanction or arbitrary refusal of leave has its hidden agenda, certainly, it would reflect the HR practice of an organization. Sorry, I have no idea about any case law in this regard!

A person will not avail privilege leave for 1-2 days unnecessarily. If he plans to avail PL/EL, definitely he would have informed management in advance. So I do not see any reason for denying the leave.

If an exigency in business exists, which warrants the concerned employee's presence, he should have been informed by the company/HR immediately after receipt of his leave request. Decide depending upon the situation.