Can We Take a Day Off Between Two Official Holidays? Seeking Clarity on Leave Rules

Dear All,

Please let me know if there is any rule that states we cannot take leave in between two official holidays. For example, this 23rd Dec '07 is Sunday, and 25th Dec '07 is Tuesday. Now, suppose someone wants to take 24th Dec, Monday, as CL or PL, then are they allowed to take such leave?

Thank you all.

Best regards,
Preeti

Hi Preeti,

If anybody wants to take leave in between two holidays, if he is availing CL, so the holiday will not count in that. If an employee is availing PL, it will count as leave.

MONA

I think Mona is wrong. As per the Factory Act 1948, section 79 states, "The leave admissible under this section shall be exclusive of all holidays whether occurring during or at either end of the period of leave."

For PL companies, the same rule applies.

If any person takes CL in between or during any holiday, then we will count Sunday or holiday as leave.

Thanks

It differs from company to company. It all depends on the leave policy of the organization. If the leave policy of your organization is silent about this, then one should be allowed to take leave in between the holidays.

Hello Preeti,

There is no rule like that; an employee can take leave in between two holidays.

Regards,
Fahd Khan Sherani

Yes, they can take the leave because even in my company, people will take leave. Some of them are outstation candidates, so we will consider that as an optional leave and later compensate for the leave. It varies from company to company.

Sandhya

Dear Sender,

There is no rule regarding the availment of leave. It will vary from company to company. Some companies do not consider the leave availed on public holidays; instead, they either prefix or suffix those holidays or both but count only the leave availed days. Some companies may consider public holidays as part of the leave availed if the holidays fall in between the mentioned public holidays. This is purely a management decision.

With regards,
L. Kumar

[Quote: Raj Meritech]
I think Mona is wrong. As per the Factory Act 1948, section 79, the leave admissible under this section shall be exclusive of all holidays, whether occurring during or at either end of the period of leave.

PL: For PL companies, follow the same rule. SL: If any person takes CL in between or during any holiday, then we will count Sunday or holiday as leave. Thanks.

Hi, the SL part is somewhat valid. In our organization, we had SL only for the AN session. It's not acceptable that an employee is sick and in the afternoon gets okay and comes to the office, though it might be so in real. But still, I feel any leave can be and should be clubbed with holidays; the rest depends on the company. Factories Act applies to only certain industries and not all so that point also needs to be looked at.

Any or all leave whatsoever (excepting on medical grounds supported by a proper medical certificate issued by the appropriate authority) is sanctioned without adversely affecting the business of the establishment. In the circumstance where leave cannot be granted or sanctioned, the leave period so denied accumulates and does not lapse.

This case in point seems to be a situation where leave is being managed to obtain undue advantage or is not expedient. I will invite the applicant to discuss and convey the propriety.

Harsh Kumar
Email: hksharan@gmail.com

Dear Preeti,

Employees can take leave in between two holidays provided they present themselves before and after the holidays; otherwise, the whole period will be considered as either leave or absence. There is no such standard practice.

Regards,
Madhav

Hi,

The employee can indeed take a leave in between. However, usually, companies will have a policy if the employee takes leave on two days where the intermediate day is a holiday. In your example, if an employee takes leave on the 24th (Monday) and also on the 26th (Wednesday), depending on the leave policy of the company, the 25th may also be counted as a leave day.

In recent times, many companies have changed their leave policies by considering only working days as leave and not the intermediate holidays.

Murali.

Dear Info Seeker,

In agreement with Murali, I will also add that if your leave period includes any holiday or Sunday sandwiched within your leave period, then that holiday is considered as a part of your leave. However, if it falls on either end of the period, it is not considered as part of your leave taken.

In this particular case, the 23rd is a Sunday and the 25th is a holiday. The 24th can be taken as a CL/PL day, which will be counted as only 1 day of leave.

The above statement is applicable in 90% of cases; the rest may vary according to company policies.

Regards,
Parul

Hello friends,

I do agree with Raj; rules should be followed according to the law and also rules framed by the particular company.

From Praveen

Dear cite members,

Let me explain what procedures we follow in our company in this regard. If an employee wants to apply for leave between holidays, then he can use his CLs if he has sufficient CL credits. However, if he does not have CLs, then he will be granted leave on an LOP basis.

Regards,
Venkatesh

Hello,

Let me introduce myself, I am Sameer Deshmukh working as Sr. Officer - P&A IR in one of the manufacturing companies.

In your case, there is no separate rule by law for leave prefix & suffix leave. It needs to be defined in the company policy. Normally in various companies, if the leave is taken before and after the holiday, then it will be treated as leave for PL only. In the case of CL & SL, there is no prefix and suffix rule applicable.

Sameer

I feel as per the rules of the Shop and Establishment Act, a person can take leave between two holidays but cannot interfix their leaves between holidays. By this, I mean that if a person does not show up on Saturday and also on Monday, in that case, all four days will be deducted from their leave. If an employee wants to avail of CL on the 24th, then they should not be penalized for three days. Rather, if they take Earned Leave or PL only, then their holidays will be inclusive.

Regards,
Juhi

Hi Preethi,

There is no rule regarding this, but I never accept such types of leaves because the last working day and the first working day are very important. If the employee has genuine reasons, we should consider it.

For example:
Nowadays, even the schools/colleges are also not accepting these types of leaves.

Regards,
Krishna

No legislation exists on this subject; it is left to individual organizations to frame rules.

Casual Leave:
To discourage employees from taking leave on a mass scale, we frame a rule that if an employee cannot avail leave between two holidays.

Sick Leave:
If a person is sick and unable to come to the office, we have rules stating that holidays falling in between will be counted.

Earned Leave:
If the calculation is based on the actual number of days worked, such as one day for every 140 days worked, then holidays should not be included for fairness. Alternatively, if earned leave, for example, 30 days per year, is provided, then rules are framed including holidays in between.

However, all such rules are for holidays falling in between. Therefore, you must frame your own rules if a holiday is prefixed or suffixed.

Sivasankaran

Yes, it depends on the company's leave policy. You should consult someone in your office. However, there are no such rules.

Ranjith

I back Mona.

With some organizations, we have policies wherein we could prefix and suffix holidays with CL or SL only. When it is a PL, we have to be present on the working day either at the initiation or ending of the holiday. If it is a closed loop, then the holidays in between would be counted as a leave.

Dear Preeti,

It depends upon the organization's rules. Generally, if you are taking CL on a day before a holiday/Sunday, it will be counted as leave. However, if you are taking EL or PL, then holidays/Sundays will not be counted as leave.

Regards,
Jyoti

Hi,

As per the Shops & Establishment Act, "The leave allowed to an employee under clause A and B shall be inclusive of the day or days during the period of such leave, on which an establishment remains closed under sub-section (1) of section 18, or on which he is entitled to a holiday under sub-section (1) of section 24 or section 31. In your case, you are trying to mix suffixes and prefixes. You can avail leave on the 24th of December provided you have to remain present on the 26th of December or you may be present on the 22nd of December. If you want to take advantage of the prefix leave, then you have to remain present on the last or first working day of that prefix holiday. This is what the Shops & Establishment Act says. Most companies draw up their own leave policies and, to provide more facilities to their employees, they may not strictly adhere to it. The labor department does not object if employers provide more benefits to their employees.

Thank you & Regards,
Ilyas Hungund

Hi All,

I need a consultant from Kolkata who can assist in obtaining registration under the Shops & Establishments Act and Profession Tax Act at reasonable charges.

Thanks & Regards,
Ilyas Hungund.

Dear Preeti,

CL cannot be combined with any other leave as per legislation, but it depends on the company policy if it allows.

Regards,
Gambhir

Hi all,

For SL, PL & CL, the quantity is the same with all the companies. When it comes to granting the leaves, it differs from company to company. Every company has its own policy regarding leave between two holidays or holidays between two leaves. Therefore, you can have your own policy for the same. Generally, if an employee takes leave on Saturday and Monday, Sunday is also counted as leave. However, this is not the case in my company. If I take leave on Saturday and Monday, I will only put down two leaves for the same, not three.

Ratna

Hi,

You can avail PL if a holiday falls between the leaves. The following are the rules for the clubbing of leaves:
- SL will be clubbed with EL, Comp Off, and Holiday.
- EL can be clubbed with SL, Comp Off, and Holiday.
- CL can be clubbed with Comp Off only. If any holiday falls between CL, CL would be taken into account. An employee cannot take more than 4 CL at a stretch.

Best Regards,
Priyanka

Hi,

I would like to inform you that this once again depends upon your company's leave policy. Some companies very specifically mention that leave cannot be taken in between your weekly days off. In such a situation, this leave cannot be approved.

If a company's leave policy does not have restrictions on taking leave in between days off, then in that case, we can approve the 24th as a casual leave if the employee has leave balance or takes Leave Without Pay (LWP).

Nandish

Dear Member,

In this case, as per practice, either he should work on Saturday (i.e., Sunday considering his day off) or he should report duty on Wednesday; then only he can avail leave on Monday. If he/she works up to Saturday, Sunday will be treated as his/her day off, then on Monday, he will be on leave. Tuesday is a holiday, and Wednesday he will report to duty.

Regards,
C.M. Prakash

Hello,

After reading all of your comments on this issue, my opinion is that if the employee has any SL or PL balance in their account, then they can avail of this leave between two official holidays.

Thanks,
Ashwini

Dear Perti,

If anybody wants to take leave in between two holidays, if he is availing CL, so the holiday will not count in that. If the employee is availing PL, it will count as leave.

Regards,
Shahbaz

Leave in between two holidays is not a problem and can be granted. However, when a holiday intervenes two leaves, then the question of whether the holiday in between the two leaves, except Casual Leave, should be counted as leave comes into being. Generally, any holiday that intervenes Earned Leave, Privileged Leave, Sick leave, and of course leave without pay should be counted as leave.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

There is no such rule. If the leave continues on the 26th or you leave on the 22nd, then it will be considered as 3 days. (22 - Leave, 23 - Holiday, 24 - Leave --- 24 - Leave, 25 - Holiday, 26 - Leave)

Preeti,

It depends on your staff and management agreement. In some organizations, there are rules regarding prefixes and suffixes. If you have any agreement, it means that they have mentioned that between two public holidays, you can't take CL/PL. In my opinion, on the 24th, it is not a holiday, so people can come to work.

Regards,