Leave Policy for part time Consultants

Hello everyone,

Our company employs few part time Consultants who work for few hours a day (like 4 hours a day, etc.) for which they get a fixed monthly fee. Given they work part time, we have not created any leave policy for them. But there has been instances where they ask for a leave due to personal reasons. I would like to know should there be a leave policy for them as well OR given they are already working part time, so we should just ask them to complete those 4 hours in any way like working slightly more on other days?

If we should have a leave policy for them, then if you could also suggest the number we should have on yearly basis.

Thank you in advance. Looking forward to valuable suggestions.

Warm Regards,
Alka Paliwal

Dear Colleague,

Consultants are not "Employee". They are experts in their filed of knowledge and provider services on visit basis. They are paid "fixed Fee" per visit. They are not eligible for any other benefits other than Conveyance if agreed so. This the best model to be adopted. When we start giving them leave and other benefits, then there will be deemed interpretations as if they are " employees" This will be the starting point for all other complications. If you engage the consultants for all 26 days in a month and pay fee based on number of days or work and so on, then they are deemed as " employee" and you need to extend all Statutory Compliances. Hence please refrain from extending any leave or other benefits to consultants.

Thank you for the prompt response, Dr. Sivakumar. So in that case, as per your suggestion, we should simply ask them to complete their hours in a month instead of getting into any leave policy option..Correct?

Actually, in most cases, consultants are paid hourly or daily rates.
Or if they are paid monthly, they are required to complete certain hours a month

If someone needs leave, he will not get paid for that day / hours
If you do not want them to lose the wages, or need to get the work done anyway, then you can ask them to do longer hours the next day to cover up

Yes, makes sense. Thank you so much Saswata Banerjee!

Regards,
Alka