Is My Company's Leave Policy Legal? Seeking Advice on Casual and Earned Leaves Issues

I am working as the Commercials Head in a beer manufacturing company. It is a startup company based in Delhi and has a registered office in Delhi. The company only provides 9 Casual Leaves and 9 Earned Leaves (18 days in total), which are pro-rated per month, i.e., 1.5 leaves per month (inclusive of CL and EL).

Leave Policy Example

For example, if a person has a "0" opening leave balance in January and is on sick leave for 4 days, at the end of the month, 1.5 leaves will be adjusted, and the salary for 2.5 days will be deducted. Let us assume that the person does not take any leaves for the coming two months, adding on 3 days to their leave register/leave balance. These leaves are not adjusted against the days for which the salary has been deducted. This is illogical as some employees see their leave balance expire at the end of the year, even though their salaries have been deducted periodically.

Company's Stance on Earned Leaves

Additionally, the company has explicitly declined to grant Earned Leaves/Privileged Leaves. The company states that CL/SL are mentioned in the offer letter, while Earned Leaves or Privileged Leaves are not specified, therefore will not be provided to the employees. Is this legal? Can an employee seek redressal in the labour court regarding this?

Please share your most valued feedback on the same.

I am working as the Commercials Head in a beer manufacturing company. It is a startup company based in Delhi and has a registered office in Delhi. The company only gives 9 Casual Leaves and 9 Earned Leaves (18 days in total), which are prorated per month, i.e., 1.5 leaves per month (inclusive of CL and EL).

For example, a person has "0" opening leave balance in January and is on sick leave for 4 days. At the end of the month, 1.5 leaves will be adjusted, and the salary for 2.5 days will be deducted. Let us assume that he does not take any leaves for the coming two months, which adds on 3 days to his leave register/leave balance. Now, these leaves are not adjusted against the days for which the salary has been deducted. This is illogical as there are employees whose leave balance expires at the end of the year; however, their salaries have been deducted from time to time.

Apart from this, the company has clearly refused to give Earned Leaves/Privileged Leaves. The company says CL/SL are mentioned in the offer letter; however, Earned Leaves or Privileged Leaves are not mentioned in the offer letter, hence will not be granted to the employees. Is this legal? Can an employee go to the labor court against this?

Please share your most valued feedback on the same.