Is a Compensatory Day Off Required When a Holiday Falls on a Weekly Off? Urgent Help Needed!

Dear seniors,

I would like to know whether it is mandatory to give a compensatory holiday in lieu of a weekly off lost due to a festival or national holiday. My factory has a holiday owing to Christmas on the 25th. Now, some of the employees who have the 25th as their weekly off come for a compensatory holiday in lieu of the weekly off lost due to the holiday. Is their demand valid? Would you all please help me out? It's urgent.

MANU

Dear Manu,

NO, there is no such rule. You don't have to give any holiday in lieu of the weekly off lost to your employees. However, from a motivation point of view, this may give them a feeling of partiality or inequality; while others are taking 2 days off in that week due to a national holiday, and those left behind may feel disadvantaged. As management professionals, we should offer them equal benefits by providing an additional day off.

Hope this reply addresses your query.

Khaiser Ali Shah
00966509928983

Note: Please also read the message on Page 3 in support of this comment.

Dear Manu,

I believe that compensatory time off in lieu of Christmas is a valid request by the employees in your factory because Christmas is considered a company-designated holiday entitled to each and every employee. Therefore, I suggest that rostered time off should not be combined with a designated holiday, and instead, employees should be given a separate rostered time off for that week.

Regards,
Aparna
HR Professional

Manu,

You should give the week off to those employees whose day off falls on a guested holiday to maintain equality among the staff. When working in the HR department, it is essential to implement such practices to promote a positive mindset among employees.

Regards, AKD

Here, I would like to opine that both parties should be practical. The holiday/festival coinciding with a weekly off is an occasional occurrence. Many times we see a holiday falling on the day just before or after the W/O. In such cases, employees do get extra time to relax or attend the family as well. The adjustment should be optional and not a right.

I am working with a manufacturing company. At times we face a crunch of time and have to work extra hours. In such cases, we do not compensate for the holidays coinciding with W/O. But when there is a relatively easy workload, we do adjust the holiday and W/O coinciding. We hardly face such a situation once a year, but whenever we are not in a position to adjust the same for the additional benefit of employees, I am pleased to say that our employees cooperate. Our employees are also pleased that whenever possible, the company adjusts the same.

So both parties should be reasonable and understanding.

I am sure that there is no legal binding on the employer's part to adjust the same.

Views from other members requested, please.

- Hiten

Hi Manu,

I agree with the other members of the community that there is no hard and fast rule applicable in such a case. The decision should be taken after involving employees and management. Please make the employees understand that whatever decision is being made, it is a one-time decision, and it is not necessary that the same step/action/decision will be taken every time. It can vary on a case-to-case basis.

I think these are the situations where HR can go the extra mile to convince management for this compensatory time off and gain the trust of the employees, provided that granting extra leave does not significantly impact productivity and there is no pending or urgent work for the employees in question. This is my personal opinion, and I do not intend to challenge any existing rules prevalent in any organization in this regard.

I hope this makes sense to you.

Keep posting.

Thanks and Regards,
Indrani Chakraborty

A compensatory day off has to be given to the employee whose weekly day off coincides with a Closed Holiday. If your company/firm follows fixed holidays in a calendar year, that many days of holidays are eligible for all employees. However, in certain cases, it can coincide with the weekly day off of some employees. In that case, it should be ensured that the total working days of the particular employees in that month should not exceed those of other employees who had availed a holiday on account of Christmas or any such Closed Holiday (for the entire firm/company). If you cannot extend the facility, it will be an injustice to them.

Ajay VK

Dear Manu,

This is not a subject matter to be decided based on the emotions of different people. The rules are clearly laid down in such situations. If you follow the factory act, which stipulates a working day of 8 hours, a working week of 48 hours, and a weekly off after 6 working days.

In a situation where you have weekly offs on a staggering basis because you need to run the factory 24/7, the act stipulates about Overtime and Compensatory off. In this situation, those of the workers who worked for their stipulated number of working hours as prescribed by your standing order are entitled to a weekly off. However, by the same token, they are entitled to the same number of holidays applicable to your factory. Hence, such people who are unlikely to avail of a holiday in view of their normal weekly offs need to be compensated either by one day's extra wages or a compensatory off in lieu thereof, which is legally valid.

Hence, don't deny people who deserve it.

Regards,
Sateesh Chandra

Dear Mr. Sateesh,

May I please bring to your kind notice that we were discussing holidays and not weekly off. Does the Factory's Act say anything about paid holidays coinciding with the weekly off?

- Hiten

Manu is asking for compensatory time off for a paid holiday that fell on a weekly holiday. Concerning the weekly day off, there is no issue. Those whose day off was on the 25th received it. However, as the 25th was a paid holiday, the daily pay rate is calculated as follows:

monthly rate of pay
--------------------------------
N - (S+H)

where N is the number of days in a month; S is the number of weekly days off or Sundays, and H is the number of paid holidays in the month.

If you do not provide him with compensatory holiday in lieu of the paid holiday, and you count that holiday as part of 'H', meaning you are making him work for one day without any payment, he will be entitled to one day's additional wages at single rates if the total working hours in the week are 48, and additional payment for overtime at double the hourly rate if the hours in the week exceed 48.

I agree it is not a matter of emotion or discretion. The factory act must be followed.

P.K. Misra

Dear Manu,

For Compensatory Off (whether against an off-day or for working on a declared holiday), generally, a two-month timeframe is given for availing of the same, else it lapses.

Regards,
NKT

Hi Sateesh,

I shall make a fresh attempt to help you understand the subject. Weekly Off is a paid day. A Declared Holiday is also a paid day. Paid Days are those when employees get paid without working. Such Paid Holidays are applicable to everyone. If, for some administrative reasons due to organizational work, some employees are unable to avail the same, would you debar them on sentimental grounds just because they availed their weekly off? No, in such cases, employees need to be compensated either by cash equivalent to one day's salary or compensatory off in lieu of.

Hope I am able to clarify this.

Regards, Hiten

Hi Mr. Satish/Mr. Hiten,

Normally, staff personnel are allowed a weekly day off or rest day as a paid day off. However, when it comes to workmen, they receive only 26 days' pay in a month. They do get the rest/weekly day off but not the pay for that day. (It is stated in the F.A to provide a rest day after working for 6 days or 48 hours.)

On the other hand, declared holidays are paid holidays, and the compensation for those days has to be provided, as you have rightly pointed out.

Regards,
NKT

Dear Manu,

There is no such entitlement for an employee to have compensatory holiday for a holiday that falls on a weekly off declared by the government. In each department, everybody has a specific day as their WOff. So whenever holidays fall on WOffs, can a company give the same to everybody? Please consider this. An employee can use that particular day as either a week off or a holiday. It's his choice. There's no need to give them a compensatory off.

Helen

Dear Manu,

I would like to quote herewith the past HR policies. Around 8-10 years ago, this policy was in effect, which states that if any employee works on a week off or official declared off days, it will be considered as overtime and will be paid accordingly. I don't say that this might not be in use, but in present HR policies, a number of companies have removed the concept of overtime itself. Again, according to this rule, the week off would be declared for those whose shift falls on the weekend day or official leave day.

There are certain rules and regulations that are not connected to laws, but they should be acceptable by both parties affected by the law.

As far as your case is concerned, if their week off was on the 25th and they didn't work on that day, that means they have availed both holidays (the week off and the 25th). The argument to this is, if the 25th would have fallen on a Sunday, would they get an extra day off. In fact, the rule I have mentioned here is accepted and implemented by a number of shopping malls and security companies.

Let me advise my fellow HR professionals that as HR, we should bridge the gap between employees and management, but that does not mean we need to be emotional.

Regards

Dear All,

In reply to the point raised by Mr. Meghal Shah and all others having similar comments, I would like to add that, in fact, we as HR professionals should also focus on motivating employees to foster a fair organizational culture. Motivation originates from emotions, so we have to be emotionally connected as well.

Considering the motivation of employees, I strongly suggest that an extra day off should be given to those employees whose weekly day off falls on December 25th. When December 25th falls on a Sunday, it is not an issue of motivation as it aligns with nature's demand. However, unlike other companies, in this specific case, this company operates throughout the week without providing all employees with Sunday as a designated holiday.

I hope this supports the judgment I have expressed in this thread.

Regards,
Khaiser Ali Shah
00966509928983

Yes, I agree with Satheesh Chandra on this subject.

Few more clarifications, I thought I would add:

1. All employees who need to be paid overtime, then you should pay that extra wages pointed out by Mr. Satheesh Chandra.
2. Other supervisory and managerial levels are entitled to one extra compensatory off.

Siva

What Sateesh and Helen say is correct. Legally, there is no need to give compensatory time off when statutory or agreed-upon holidays fall on weekly offs. This doesn't only happen on Christmas but on other holidays that fall on weekly offs as well. Legally speaking, there is no requirement to compensate for such days.

However, each company is free to follow its own policy on such occasions, and there are companies that allow compensatory time off. If they choose to do so, it should be consistent on all similar occasions, not just on the 25th of December. Additionally, when providing such time off, they should clearly state that this is according to their own policy, not the standard practice followed by the majority of companies.

HR managers should have the freedom to choose either scenario based on their company's policy, rather than following what others do or say.

Jeroo

Legally, there is no need to provide compensatory time off, but employees are entitled to extra wages as per legal requirements. Is this information correct, or is there any doubt or differing view on this matter?

Siva

This case is different than any other company since there is no defined holiday like Sunday in this company. Every employee has his own day off. So, my comment was only in this particular company's case.

Hi,

I think it is legal according to the Factories Act that an employee is entitled to compensatory off if a guest holiday falls on their weekly off day.

Thanks and regards,
Nishat

Hi,

As per the provisions under the Factories Act, if by the making of any rule or passing of any order, a worker is deprived of a weekly day of rest, the same should be compensated by the grant of a compensatory holiday to him. This is subject to the condition that the worker is not allowed to work for more than 10 days at a stretch.

If I remember correctly, the compensatory holiday is to be granted in the following two months.

Cyril

Sir,

If any employee works on holidays, whose nature of the job is classified as ESSENTIAL SERVICE, he is authorized to take leave in lieu of duty performed on that particular day. Is it correct? Do you agree with me? Please reply if you have any concerns on this issue.

Regards,
Ev Prabhu

Hi,

If an employee works on a holiday, he will be granted a substitute holiday, three days before or after the holiday, subject to the condition that he does not work at a stretch for more than 10 days. If a substitute off cannot be granted, he is allowed a compensatory holiday in the following two months.

A notice to that effect is to be given to the factory inspectorate, and a copy of the same is to be displayed on the notice board.

If any worker is found working on a holiday, the same should be supported by the aforesaid notice. This requirement is under the Factories Act.

Cyril

In line with the above discussion, I have a number of queries that go unanswered. If anyone could help.

If a management staff member comes to work on a holiday, how should he be paid? How can a rule be formulated? Normally in our company, he is paid his conveyance (a minimum amount - no ceiling is fixed) and some have lunch in the company's account. It is not known to others (because it is mainly the Accounts department that comes, and they show these costs differently).

Now, there are many who have started misusing it. They claim any amount, saying that they come by taxis (but they actually do not). I have been asked to stop all such facilities and issue a circular regarding this as we are having a strict cost reduction measure program going on.

I am somehow not for this system. If an employee is called on a holiday, he should be compensated for it. Otherwise, why should he come? He may say no. If we give compensatory time off, that will again be a problem because of the work exigencies and fewer manpower.

In the past, when we used to have an allowance/reimbursement system for holiday work, some employees used to come for no reason, just to claim this amount. Also, some would come and just spend an hour or so and claim the whole amount. Some bosses blankly sign this, as they are also parties to it.

I am so confused. At this time of the cost reduction program, what is the best method I can suggest so that my employees are not offended, and the various departmental works, such as Accounts (during closing) and Marketing (for tender work), are not adversely affected?

Please help. An early reply is expected.

Mr. Ann,

If a management staff comes to work on a holiday, how should he be paid? How can a rule be formulated? Normally in our company, he is paid his conveyance (a minimum amount- no ceiling is fixed) and some have lunch in the company's account. It is not known to others (because it is mainly the Accounts that come and they show these costs differently).

Now there are many who have started misusing it. They claim any amount telling that they come by Taxis (but they actually do not). I have been asked to stop all such facilities and issue a circular regarding this as we are having a strict cost reduction measure program going on.

A. Staff called to work on holiday for some work shall be compensated at the rate which is double the actual rate followed by a compensatory off as per law.

B. Set policies for conveyance and duly supported with the documents. Supporting Documents: 1. Work authorization form 2. Expenses Claim Form

C. Offering the lunch/dinner shall also be covered under the relevant policies stating the maximum authorization of expenses for a particular grade of employee. Communicate to the staff that in the absence of supporting evidence and authorization from the competent person, bills shall not be entertained.

If an employee is called on a holiday, he should be compensated for it. Otherwise, why should he come? He may say no. If we give compensatory off, that will again be a problem because of the work exigencies and less manpower.

This is a challenge for you.

Analyze and review the work done by the employees. Study the various facets of working done by the employees at various levels. Make the opinion and review the ground realities; put the declarations/certifications for the work wherever necessary in the forms or documents of standard operating procedures to set the responsibilities of the certifying authorities. Remember that the authorizing person and the person certifying should be different.

You need to formulate and implement the policies and procedures in an effective manner.

Respected seniors,

Please clarify for me whether the Full and Final settlement should be provided on the company letterhead or on regular paper.

Regards,
Dhananjoy