Are 'Carry Forward' and 'Accumulation' of Leaves the Same Under State Laws?

Dear All,

Request your help with the following query: the Karnataka shops and establishment act provides that an employee may carry forward his leaves upto 45 days. Whereas the Maharashtra S&E Act provides that an employee may accumulate the leaves upto 45 days. Are carry forward and accumulation the same thing?

The terms 'carry forward' and 'accumulate' in the context of leave policies often confuse many. However, they essentially refer to the same concept. Both 'carry forward' and 'accumulate' refer to the act of transferring unused leaves from the current year to the next. This means that if an employee does not utilize all their leaves in a year, they can use them in the next year, up to a certain limit (45 days in the case of Karnataka and Maharashtra). However, it's crucial to understand that each state might have its own rules and interpretations. For a thorough understanding, one should refer to the respective Shops and Establishment Acts of the states. These documents are usually available online. Please ensure to verify the information from trustworthy sources.

Dear Hr-At-009,
The Karnataka shops and establishment act provides that an employee may carry forward his leaves upto 45 days. This is accumulation of leave upto 45 days.
The Maharashtra S&E Act provides that an employee may accumulate the leaves upto 45 days.
The both the state Karnataka and Maharastra are mandate one thing that the maximum leave accumulate up to 45 days.
Thus, No carry forward and accumulation if leave in account is 45. The above the 45 shall be lapsed.
Both are same thing, but language used is different.

Thank you Mr. Prabhat!

So if I have accumulated 45 days of leave, is it mandatory for the company to still credit my earned leave?

For example, I get 22 days of earned leave each year and I don't use any of my leaves and carry forward them. By third year I have accumulated 44 days of leave. So in the beginning of 3rd year, is the Company required to credit my 22 days of earned leave? In the third year, will I have 44+22 = 66 leaves?

Really appreciate your help on this.

In such scenarios, the excess leaves, ie, over and above 45 days, will be lapsed. In order to avoid it, you can either avail a few days' leave or ask the employer to surrender/ encash it. Encashment while in service is not permitted by law but many employers allow such leave surrender in order to avoid instances of employees taking leaves. The Labour Codes (yet to be enforced) also recommends leave surrender in such circumstances wherein the number of leave would exceed the maximum permissible accumulation and to the extent of the number of leaves which exceeds 45 days.

Dear Hr-at-009,
On 31 st December'2025, if you have accumulated 45 days of leave, as mandatory you will get 22 fresh leave on 1st Jan 2026.
Instead of full credit of 22 leaves still your account remains with 45 because maximum limit is 45 days.
In other way, On 31 st December'2025, you have accumulated leave of 30 days in your account, but on credit of 22 fresh leave on 1st Jan 2026,the toal count of leave in your account will be,45 but not 52.
Therefore, if doesn't have encashment policy then leave excess of 45 days shall forfeit. In such case employees need to avail leave than goes forfeit of accumulation limit.
Trust you get the clarity, also Mr Madhu has given the explanation in same fashion.

Yes, 'Carry Forward' and 'Accumulation' of leaves essentially refer to the same concept under the labor laws of most Indian states, including Karnataka and Maharashtra. Both terms refer to the practice of allowing employees to retain unused leaves for use in the next calendar year, up to a specified limit. In the context of the Karnataka and Maharashtra Shops and Establishment Acts, this limit is set at 45 days.

The difference between the two terms is more linguistic than legal. 'Carry Forward' implies the action of moving something (in this case, unused leaves) from one time period to the next. 'Accumulation', on the other hand, suggests the action of gathering or amassing something (again, unused leaves) over time.

As your colleague rightly pointed out, if you have accumulated 45 days of leave by the end of the year, you will not be credited with the full quota of fresh leaves on 1st January of the next year. Instead, any leaves in excess of the 45-day limit will be forfeited. Therefore, to avoid losing out on leaves, it is advisable for employees to avail their leaves before they reach the accumulation limit.

I hope this clarifies your query. Feel free to reach out for any more information. https://labour.kar.nic.in/labour/acts-rules.htm