Legal and Ethical Dilemma: Can We Place an Employee on Leave Without Pay Until Their Next Project?

Dear HR Professionals, one of the employees has come out of the project and has been on the bench since 18th November 2021. Additionally, the employee is unable to successfully pass any interviews. Can we place him on Leave Without Pay (LOP) until the next project is assigned? Is this legally permissible? Please advise.

Dear Colleague,

The question is intended to help someone, and the spirit is truly appreciable. However, when it comes to reality, the fact remains that the talent is already on the bench, looking for a job elsewhere but unable to clinch a deal. In this situation, it is a dilemma for all HR professionals: whether to support the business or the talent. The LOP is a tool that can be used very discreetly for valid reasons with time-bound upper limits. We need to balance the organization's interests while safeguarding individual talent by having a cutoff time (say 30 days) before which the employee should be moved to:

- Any alternate project currently ongoing
- Any other productive job deployment within the organization
- Allow 30 days for him to search for a job elsewhere
- Or adhere to the notice pay clause, conclude the employment, and call him again if he is available when the next suitable opening arises.

Keeping someone on LOP for an extended period is not advisable, as factors like continuity of service and continuation of statutory benefits, including gratuity service, are affected. We cannot keep an employee on LOP leave for long as his livelihood will also become a concern. Hence, make decisions judiciously and smartly.

Take care,

Dr. P. Sivakumar
Doctor Siva Global HR
Tamil Nadu

'Not able to crack interview'

I think the above statement indicates that you have not disclosed the information needed to advise you properly. I assume you are a body-shopping company. That means the employee must pass the interview with the client to be added to a particular project team. Also, you have not explained whether the employee possesses a rare skill or lacks the skills required for the job.

Legally, you cannot force someone to be on leave without pay (LOP) just because they are on the bench. It is your responsibility as an employer to pay the salary. LOP occurs when an employee is not reporting to work as instructed and has no accumulated leave. I do not think that is the case here. Therefore, you are liable to pay the employee's salary. If there is no work available for the employee, then you should terminate their employment following all procedures and let them go.