Leave Policies for Nursing Home Staff: How Are Holidays Compensated and What Rules Apply?

hr.sil@teabox.com
Please let me know the leave structure to be followed for employees working in nursing homes. Is it a rule to be followed as per the Shop and Establishment Act? They work on government holidays, so how is it compensated?
Madhu.T.K
You have to follow the state's Shops and Commercial Establishments Act regarding holidays. You can follow the State Act in this respect, i.e., the Industrial Establishments National and Festival Holidays Act. However, hospitals, being public utility services, have exemptions concerning the observance of holidays. Accordingly, you need not close the establishment (hospital) on a declared holiday, but employees working on holidays shall be allowed to take compensatory holidays.
umakanthan53
I agree with the observations of our learned friend Madhu. To my knowledge, hospitals, nursing homes, and similar establishments in the healthcare industry do not have any separate establishment-specific labor laws. As such, they are automatically covered by the respective State's Shops & Establishments Act. However, most of the States' S & E Acts provide explicit exemptions from the provisions pertaining to working hours, leave, etc., in view of the 24/7 operations of hospitals and nursing homes.

At the same time, hospitals and nursing homes fall under the purview of the Minimum Wages Act 1948, and statutory minimum wages are being fixed and enforced. The MW Act has provisions for weekly offs, working hours, payment of overtime for extra work, etc. I am also given to understand that wherever a separate State Law for National and Festival holidays is in force, it will apply to all establishments under the purview of the MWA, 1948 (e.g., Tamil Nadu). Therefore, a hospital is bound to grant National & Festival Holidays to its employees as mentioned by Mr. Madhu.

In this situation, you can take the leave provisions of your State S & E Act as guidelines for leave benefits to your employees and frame a Leave Policy accordingly.
hr.sil@teabox.com
Permission for Night Work for Women in Hospitals

Most states' Shop and Establishment laws have timing limits for working women (e.g., 7 pm). Therefore, do we need to seek permission from the Shop and Establishment authorities for employing women as nurses or staff to work at night in hospitals or nursing homes?
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