Managing Leave Without Pay: How Do You Handle Excessive LOP in Your Company?

In my company, we have CL-15 and SL-5; once these leaves are completed, employees go on LOP. There is a need to control the leaves (LOP). How many LOP can private companies allot to the staff, and if the number exceeds, what is the next step?

Posted by Laina Dsouza, HR Manager

You can reduce LOP by increasing the number of leaves if you are an establishment covered by the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act. Give the employees the statutory leaves, such as 12 days of CL, 12 days of SL, and 12 days of PL.

Even after that, if employees are taking leave without pay, then there should be a reason—an issue with your establishment—that prompts employees to be absent. It should be a serious issue, and you need to identify it. If you do not find any reason, then start initiating disciplinary action against those who take excessive leaves. You can even dismiss such employees, but only after following certain procedures. However, before that, please ensure that you provide leaves as per the law in force.

You cannot 'allot' LOP to employees. Perhaps you mean that you want to limit the number of LOPs that an employee can take. In your internal HR process, you need to have a monitoring system and then an action plan.

Misconduct due to excessive absence

Your standing orders should provide for misconduct on account of excessive absence (unauthorized absence). You should issue notices when employees are taking a large number of unauthorized leaves. Use HR for counseling the employees to be more regular. Finally, you can issue a show cause for excessive absence and then conduct a Domestic Enquiry. If your standing orders allow, then based on Domestic Enquiry and the provisions of the standing order, you can remove that employee.

Understanding Leave Policies: CL, SL, and EL

Your company provides Casual Leave (CL) - 15 and Sick Leave (SL) - 5. You didn't specify how many Earned Leaves (EL) are provided by your company in a calendar year. You cannot decide without considering the earned leave. In no case can Earned Leave be referred to as CL and SL because it's illegal. Therefore, you need to amend your leave policy. You cannot classify any absence as Leave Without Pay (LOP) in the absence of EL, even in the case of CL and EL exhaustion as per the current practice. It's essential to understand this in a legal context under the prevailing labor laws.

I wish to give my views on this subject.

Understanding the Concept of Leave

First of all, the word "leave" denotes the meaning of permission. Unfortunately, it is often mistaken as a privilege. Any leave of absence preferred by an employee, whether due to ill health of themselves, their family members, relatives, dependents, or otherwise, must be initially communicated orally and later ratified after resuming duty. Even annual leave, earned leave, or privilege leave must be applied for in advance to ensure that the work or assignments allotted by the employer are not affected.

The Routine Nature of Leave Taken

Nowadays, the term "leave taken" has become a routine matter or right. It is true that individuals have a responsibility to honor invitations for attending family or social functions that may require them to be away from work. However, such absences should be planned well in advance to avoid causing embarrassment to the employer or colleagues.

Adhering to Leave Policies

If the establishment or factory provides leave of absence as prescribed by applicable laws or employment rules, it must be adhered to. Exemptions in cases of emergencies are always accepted. The suggestion is to raise awareness about regular attendance and its importance and impact. Let us develop employees for consistent work and not make the work atmosphere unpleasant or burdensome.

Laina Dsouza, as an HR Manager, you should be aware of statutory provisions regarding leave as per the applicable acts/rules, specifically the Karnataka Shops & Establishments Act. This was pointed out by Mr. Madhu.TK in his post dated 2.1.25. You must also be aware of the kind of leave, 'LOP', its nonexistence, and any quotas associated with it. Of course, CL per se is not a prescribed leave, although almost all establishments grant such leave, for example, one day for every month of service rendered. I suggest reviewing your leave policy to align it exactly as provided for in the KS&E Act. It would not be appropriate to suggest any other leave that is not supported by the relevant act. Introducing EL/PL as per the act will automatically resolve the issue of LOP you are currently facing. LOP is an extraordinary arrangement for exigencies or specific circumstances and is considered only in rare cases. It can even be completely denied.