Confused About Sandwich Policy: Do Weekend Leaves Count If Friday or Monday Is Approved?

Hi, please answer my query. Our employees have taken 11th Aug (as RH-Thursday) and 12th Aug (approved by Team Manager-Friday). There is a salary deduction for 13th Aug 2022. Is this viable? Can you please elaborate on what the sandwich policy says? If leaves are approved on Fridays or Mondays, will Saturdays & Sundays be counted?

Sandwiching will happen only when both the ends, or the prefix and suffix, of a holiday are leave days. That is, if you are present on Monday, the holidays will not be counted as leaves.

The approval of leaves depends on the company policy. If holidays or weekends fall between the leaves taken, the actual leave will be considered excluding the holidays or weekends, or it may follow as a continuation of leave irrespective of the holidays or weekends.

As I understand, sandwich leave is the employer's practice of counting the holiday as leave if it is preceded or followed by any leave applied for by the employee. Whether such a leave policy is right or wrong is a different question, as any answer in this regard would be a nuanced one.

Purpose of the Sandwich Leave Policy
The main purpose of such a policy is to discourage employees from availing a longer period of authorized absence inclusive of the weekly holidays in the interest of the organization's work both at the beginning and the end of the week. The negative impact of such a policy is that it curtails the right of the employee to combine their usual holidays with the leave applied for, even on occasions of genuine urgency. Thus, it is just a preventive check.

If you follow the annual leave with wages/earned leave as per the Factories Act, the holidays and weekly offs in between two such leaves should not be counted as leaves.