Compensatory Time Off: How Does It Work for Public Holidays and Weekly Off Days?

Seniors,

Please let me know what the rule is for compensatory time off when working on a public holiday or on a weekly off day. Is it one day off in exchange for one day worked on public holidays as well?

Thank you.

Hi,

It seems you have an idea about that. It could vary from company to company. Generally, it is given, and the employee gets a month to take Compensatory Off (CO). For example, if an employee works on Sunday (15th June 2008), they will be allowed to take the Compensatory Off by 14th July 2008.

Best Regards,
Deepak

Hi,

As it is said, it depends on company to company. Say, suppose:

1. If an employee works on 26th Jan, he can get a comp off on the very next day also, but you just have to fix a time limit that you can utilize this comp off within a stipulated time period. If not, then it is exhausted.

2. If an employee works on Sundays where the company has an off, it depends on the employer or his/her boss to find out whether the person has genuinely come to the office for the work that he is called for, and if yes, then here also the same rule applies, but again depending on the workload, he can be given a comp off.

3. Comp offs can even be adjusted along with the employee's leave - I mean he/she can take leave along with a comp off also.

Hope this information is useful to you.

Regards,
Jennifer Isaac

Dear Jennifer,

Is there a form to keep a record of CTOs? My CEO insists that the CTO should be sanctioned by him before requesting the same. If any format is available, please do send.

Regards, pankej_sharma@yahoo.com

Dear riyarodeshia and Pankaj,

Whenever a employee is required to work on weekly/Closed Holiday/public holiday, for the full day or a part, thereof but exceeding 5 hours in a day, he will be granted Compensatory Off for maximum one day. However, in exceptional circumstances if an employee is required to work for less than 5 hours or before lunch break he shall be entitled for ½ day Compensatory Off. The Compensatory Off shall not be sanctioned for half day. Two half day Compensatory Off shall be combined together for sanctioning of one day Compensatory Off and to be availed within stipulated period.

Written permission of Head of the Division not below the rank of Senior Manager should be obtained before deploying an employee for any job on a closed holiday/weekly holiday /public holiday indicating the urgency & nature of job. If it is not possible to obtain written permission, verbal permission over telephone should be obtained which invariably should be followed with the written approval of the Head of the Department for engagement of an employee on Compensatory Off in order to avoid misuse of the above facility .

Separate attendance record for having worked on a weekly/closed holiday should be maintained by the concerned department.

The Head of the Division will approve the Compensatory Off on request of concerned employees within three months from the date on which the employee has worked.

The Compensatory Off to the employees will be staggered so that not more than two employees will be on Compensatory Off on any particular day to avoid non-availability of employees.

I hope that now the concept of compensatory off would be clear to u.

KATYANA

Dear Katyana,

Thank you for your useful reply, but I have one confusion. On public holidays, there should not be just one day off; it should be two days. Could you please confirm if this is the case?

Your prompt clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Dear Riya,

I don't understand why it should be for 2 days. When an employee works for 1 day on a public holiday, he would be eligible for one day only. But yes, he can club comp off and weekly off together. For example, somebody had worked on, say, last Sunday, so he can take comp off on Friday and he can combine Saturday and Sunday of next week (if he is having a 5-day week).

KATYANA

Dear Katyana,

Thank you so much for guiding me in this regard. Your inputs were quite useful, as I am new to the HR department and learning many things. Please suggest to me how to maintain a record of COFF.

Thanks and Regards,

Pankaj Sharma
Executive HR

Hi, my name is Jayant Gupta, and I am serving as an HR Executive with one of the reputed organizations. My query is: how can we compensate a particular employee who is working on Saturday and Sunday?

Thanks & Regards,
Jayant Gupta

Dear riyarodeshia,

When you talk about two days, it is correct to some extent. In general, working for more than 48 hours in a week constitutes overtime, and an employee (especially a workman) is entitled to overtime allowance (OTA) at double the rates.

However, there are separate rules for workmen, office staff, or managers, and the policies vary from organization to organization. Also, consider the fact that senior executives and managers are exempt from several acts and hence cannot claim overtime. Moreover, in several public sector organizations, overtime has been abolished.

Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)

PSUs, being model employers, have developed the policy of providing one day's extra wages and compensatory off as an incentive to compensate employees for the hardship of working on national/public holidays. This policy applies to employees whose rest/off day coincides with the holiday.

Private sectors, like the company you are with, can pay two days' salary or compensatory off—there is no restriction on having a better, improved compensation policy.

Warm regards.

I have to implement a comp-off policy for the employees who work on weekends and for those who work until 11 PM or 12 AM. Please provide me with information on the comp-off policy for an IT company. If possible, also include details about the leave policy.

Regards,
Preethi

A list of Sunday/holiday working employees should come from the HOD. Compensatory off (C off) will be applicable only to those employees whose names are on the list. If an employee has worked on Sunday for 4 hours only, they will get 0.5 leave as C off. If an employee has worked on Sunday for 6 hours, they will get a full day off as C off.

C off must be availed within 30 days.

Thanks & Regards,
Santosh Kokane

I have 8 days of compensatory off credit, but I have resigned from my job, and there is a balance of compensatory off remaining. I would like to know if the company will pay for the remaining compensatory off or if it will lapse. The company has asked me to attend duty on my weekly off. Please advise.

Thank you.

If an employee works on a public holiday, are they entitled to receive one additional day's salary? Please help clarify this for me.

Hello All,

A service engineer went to the customer site (out of station) to work. He is now claiming comp off for Saturdays and Sundays, whereas he has not worked on those days. His defense is that since he was at the customer's site, he is eligible for comp off.

My take is that going to the customer is a part of his job, and he cannot claim comp off if he hasn't worked on that day. Request your suggestion on this.

Regards,
Hrishikesh

Hi,

We are not frequently calling employees to work on weekends, and we are offering them a 100% monetary hike and a performance bonus to compensate for working on weekends. Therefore, we do not want to eliminate compensatory time off as a policy in our organization. Kindly assist me in drafting this policy.

Thank you.

If an employee works at the client site with a roster of 23 days of work and 7 days of leave, they accumulate 6 compensatory leaves [3 x (Saturday + Sunday)]. Additionally, when an employee works at a remote site for 1 month or 2 months at once, every month, 2 x 4 = 8 compensatory offs are due. In this situation, they never need to use their CL/SL/EL.

Please suggest what rules can be incorporated here.

If a public holiday falls on the weekly off, i.e., November 7, 2018, is a public holiday, at the same time the weekly off falls on that day for nurses, doctors will receive compensatory time off for November 7, 2018. (Nurses and doctors already have their weekly off on November 7, 2018).

Dear Sir,

If a company gives time off from regular working hours, but then after 15 days decides that Sunday will be a regular working day, requiring employees to take a week off consecutively after 10 days of working, could you please advise on the legal implications as per labor laws?

Regards,
Milan

Hello,

I just have a query: should the comp off rule be applicable for Sundays, public holidays, and Saturdays? Giving Saturday comp off is a bit difficult for us as there are people in our company who regularly work on Saturdays and others who have regular Saturdays off. Should there be two different policies for this scenario?

Please help out.

Hi,

My questions are: Is the day off paid or only leave? If an employee comes to the office on a Sunday, is the day off applicable the next day, and is it paid or not?

Hi, I am working as an HR Generalist. Our employees had to work from home (WFH) due to the lockdown situation caused by COVID-19 on public holidays, i.e., 2nd April and 9th April (Ram Navmi and Good Friday), as they wanted to bank their holidays and take time off in lieu of those days. It would be great if you could respond to the following queries:

- Is there any specific policy for this?
- How can we track this in the attendance records?
- What is the time period for taking a day off?
- Can employees take a day off altogether near any festival, such as Diwali or Christmas?

Thanks

Hello Readers,

Comp time off is something additional employees earn due to working extra hours beyond the defined working hours. Check out the rules regarding comp time off here: https://hrone.cloud/compensatory-off/

Understanding Compensatory Time Off

Comp off means the employee is notionally present, entitled to the benefits of being present.

I don't understand why it should be for 2 days. When an employee works for 1 day on a public holiday, they should only be eligible for one day.

Dear Gandharva, that is what the act is, and we have to abide by the act. In fact, those who work on 26th January, 15th August, and 2nd October are required to be given three days of compensatory off.

Importance of Compensatory Offs
Compensatory offs for two or three days are given to cherish the importance of these days. If the importance is removed, then all the days will become equal, and in this capitalistic world, it will become a ground for the exploitation of labor. The extra offs are given so that the employees are provided with sufficient rest and can look after their family. Secondly, by giving the extra offs, businesses are required to fulfill their social obligation.

Thanks,

Regards, Dinesh Divekar