Is It Mandatory for Companies to Offer Separate Sick Leave? Seeking Advice on Policy Changes

Hello Everybody,

I just want to know if the sick leave policy is compulsory in an organization. Actually, we were thinking to merge sick leave & paid leave, where 7 days are assumed as sick leave, which will lapse after a year (if any sick leave balance). Is there any act or rule that states sick leave should be applicable for the employees in the organization? Please suggest.

Chanda :)

Ya, it's compulsory. 15 days are reserved for this purpose, which are paid leave. And there are certain leaves which cannot be said to be paid leaves.

If you go through ESI, you will see that it is not proper to give SL to employees who are covered by ESI.

I had faced a similar problem earlier, and what we did was to club all the leave under one head. There was no SL or CL.

The rules for Earned Leave were also changed, and only leave taken for LTA purposes was done in tune with the Income Tax Act.

There is nothing illegal because none of the Acts mention CL or SL. The only legal leave as per law is EL, so your employer's logic of putting them under absenteeism cannot be completely discarded.

Just tell me if they ask you which Act makes provision that CL or SL entitlement is there for workers. To be honest, there is none, except if you have Certified Standing Orders that have included CL and SL.

Even under ESI, you treat the days as absent in the case of Sickness Benefit (recall the form you have to certify where you state the employer did not pay any wages for the period).

So, I feel you should club all the leaves together and put them under EL. Once EL increases, your employer will raise the issue, and there you can fight your case out.

Regards,

Vinod