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Query Regarding National Holidays

My name is Ranjana, and I work in the HR department of an MNC. I have a query regarding national holidays. If an employee applies for a 10-day leave and national holidays such as 15th August and Rakshabandhan fall within that period, should the employee count those holidays as part of their leave, or are they entitled to the benefit of the national holidays for those two days?

In my previous company, the HOD mentioned that the benefit of national holidays should be given to every employee, whether they are on leave or working. Can you please guide me on this matter according to the law?

Thank you,

Ranjana C


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It depends entirely on your company's policy. Some companies have a policy where weekly offs and holidays are counted as leave if they occur during a leave period. However, some companies do not have this policy. It is up to your company's policy.

Regards,

From India, Pune
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I agree with Vinod that every company has its own leave policy, as I have had a similar experience in two different companies. So, please check with your HR team about the rules for this type of leave combination.

Regards,
SD

From India, Bangalore
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It is a general principle that if you have applied for Casual Leave, then intervening National Holidays/weekly holidays do not count. However, if it is any other kind of leave, then National Holidays/weekly holidays intervening your leave are considered part of the leave applied. Nevertheless, National Holidays/weekly holidays falling at the beginning or at the end of the leave applied for are not counted.

Policies are framed within this context. However, a policy can offer better benefits; for example, intervening National Holidays/weekly holidays may not count because for better benefits, nobody is going to question.

Thanks,

V K Gupta

From India, Panipat
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National and Festival Holidays During Leave

Generally, National and Festival holidays are applicable even when taken intermittently because if that leave is not allowed, one will have to forgo it. Some companies will allow leave that falls during a holiday period, while others will treat the holiday as part of the leave. However, as per the N & FH Act, we must allow the holiday and treat the other days as leave.

Regards,
D. Gurumurthy
HR & IR Consultant, Hyd.

From India, Hyderabad
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Clarification on Leave Deduction Policy

Referring to Mr. V K Gupta's comments, "NH/WO falling at the beginning or at the end of leave applied for are not counted," I would like to have more clarification. Is it under any rule/law, or an organization's policy, that decides the above statement?

In my company, when one or two days' leave is taken adjacent to any holiday, the holiday is also included for considering leave deduction. Is it justified? Even two days' leave on Friday and Saturday are considered as three days' deduction since it is connected to Sunday, which is our weekly off. Is it justified? What does the law say? Your guidance will be much appreciated. We work under the Mumbai Shops & Establishment Act.

From India, Mumbai
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There are three National Holidays..26th Jan, 15th Aug. and 2nd Oct. If any of these National Holidays falls during anyone\'s leave period,it will not be treated as part of leave.
From India, Mumbai
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National Holidays and Leave Policy

Please note the following National Holidays: 26th January, 14th April, 1st May, 15th August, 2nd October, and Regional New Year. Raksha Bandhan is not a National Holiday.

Leave Policy Considerations

Leave rules must have been charted out by you as a policy of your company. If your leave policy states that intervening Weekly Holidays, Second/Fourth Saturdays, Festival Holidays, etc., are to be considered as Leave with pay, it is to be adhered to. Alternatively, if your policy does not incorporate the above, then you may calculate the exact working days only for calculating the days of Leave. In general, intervening holidays, whatever nomenclature they may have, are to be accounted for as Leave only in the absence of a specific policy regarding them.

Best wishes.

From India, Pune
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Hi Ranjana, Employee should be given a holiday (National holiday) & will not be taken into account of availed leave....
From India, Chennai
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Under the Factory Act, leave with wages by a worker on any Sunday/holiday/national festival/closed day falling in the intervening period is not counted as leave. It is excluded from the number of days a person proceeds on leave.

Leave Policies and Holidays

Leave policies in general state that any holiday falling at either end of the leave period can be suffixed or prefixed to the leave. However, any holiday falling during the intervening period is included in the leave.

Thanks & regards,

RL Dhingra
Advocate
Labour Law Consultant, Delhi
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]
Email: [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

From India, Delhi
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Understanding National Holidays in India

It's better if you go through the discussions that have taken place in this forum. You will find enough materials to understand the complexity of holidays in India, especially the detailed information provided by Vikramsingh.

As many others have pointed out, the Government of India has prescribed the following as National Holidays which must be strictly followed, except for those on duty either as per a rotation policy or for essential and emergency duties:
- Jan 26th - Republic Day
- Aug 15th - Independence Day
- Oct 2nd - Gandhi Jayanthi
In many years, April 14th, Dr. Ambedkar's Jayanthi is also observed as a National Holiday.

It is important to note that there is no compulsory National Festival Holiday as such because hardly any festival is observed nationwide, as most festivals are related to specific religions.
Other festivals and State holidays should be determined by the list of holidays provided by the respective state governments and decided jointly with unions or as per the standing orders of the establishment.

Regards

From India, Bangalore
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Your ex-HOD is right.

Benefit of National Holidays

".. benefit should be given to each and every employee who is working in a company, whether they are on leave or at work."

Why should anyone be deprived of national and other holidays that fall between leaves? In this case, the employee will only apply for 8 leaves, and only 8 leaves will be deducted from their leave balance. There is something called fairness and fair dealing, which sadly many companies lack these days.

Irrespective of what your company rules and policies say, which may be right or wrong, as far as the law is concerned, it will only favor fairness and justice. The best way to understand this is to place yourself in the employee's position. Would you be happy and consider it fair if you were taking leave and, despite closed holidays when your office is closed, 2 days of leave are deducted from your leave balance?

Warm regards.

From India, Delhi
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Namaste Rajkumarji,

I have made a policy change this year onwards to exclude all holidays and weekly offs from leaves. The earlier system included all days as leaves, but I have made necessary changes and revised the policy.

I believe policies like these should be part of employment laws.

Best Regards,
Bharati S. Joshi

From India, Mumbai
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This is dependent on your company policy. In my experience, if any national festival holiday falls between continuous leave, it must be considered as part of the leave and not lapse due to the national festival holiday.

Thanks,
Purav Jangra
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From India, Karnal
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Query from All!

As per my experience, I completely believe that the leave (deduction/adjustment) rule is totally based on the company's leave policy. It is nowhere written that National Holidays (15th Aug, 26th Jan, and 2nd Oct) need not be considered, and WO/Regional Holidays shall be counted as part of leave.

Each company formulates its leave policy as per their business needs. The law only explains the minimum number of leaves an employee is eligible for during the calendar year.

Now, for example: If an employee remains absent during the entire August Month (1st Aug ~ 31st Aug) and has not applied for leave OR does not have leave in his account OR is absconding, companies are not bound by law to pay salary for 1 day (i.e., 15th Aug) as it is a National Holiday.

Regards,
Shashi

From India, New Delhi
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if any worker is called for duty in a factory,will he entitled for double O.T. and com. off.on national holiday
From India, Surat
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Dear Ranjana,

There have been a couple of posts on this query. You may see this one: https://www.citehr.com/460542-how-ca...ml#post2056343.

Regards,
Shailesh Parikh
Gujarat, Vadodara
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

From India, Mumbai
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I may put forth before the forum that when holidays and weekly offs are counted as working days for calculating earned leave and for other purposes, then where lies the fault if intervening NH/WO are counted towards leave taken by the employee. However, the suffix and prefix of NH/WO to leave should be allowed and should not be counted towards leave. I may also point out that I have read somewhere that leaves taken are considered as 'absence from duty from relinquishing the charge till the charge is taken back.' If we consider this aspect, then suffix and prefix are not allowed. Practically, I am not very aware of this.

Thanks,
V K Gupta

From India, Panipat
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Policy Regarding Weekly Offs and Holidays

It totally depends on your company's policy. Some companies have a policy where weekly offs and holidays are counted as part of the leave if they occur during a leave period. However, some companies do not follow this practice. In my company, weekly offs and holidays that fall between casual leave or sick leave will be debited from the leave balance.

Thank you,

Nachappa

From India, Mysore
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rkn61
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National Holidays and Leave Policy

Generally, four National Holidays are: 26th January, 1st May, 15th August, and 2nd October. Rakshabandhan is not a National Holiday but a Festival holiday. Generally, many companies do not count National Holidays falling in between the leave period, but it is purely based on an individual company's policy on leave. If any employee happens to work on a National Holiday, they are entitled to one day compensatory off plus one day's wages. Thus, it can be seen that the benefit of the holiday needs to be extended to the employee, instead of counting the intermittent National Holiday as leave.

Thanks.

Regards,
P. Radhakrishnan

From India, Aizawl
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Dear Ranjana,

I also agree with Vinod. It depends entirely on the company's leave policy. In my organization, we follow a sandwich leave policy. It states that if an employee takes leave on Friday and Monday, Saturday and Sunday will also be counted as leave, which means he/she has taken 4 days of leave.

Most importantly, this policy applies to national holidays as well.

Regards,
Aaditi

From India, Mumbai
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Every company may have certain peculiar practices and policies. However, any practice or policy that contravenes the laws or well-accepted principles followed generally in the land (in this case, India) is illegal and deplorable. The point at issue is whether it is legal, fair, or friendly to the employees. Can you cite any Indian law that supports your leave policy? What is the nature of leave that you have referred to; whether it is CL, EL/PL, HPL, Medical, Quarantine, Maternity, Disability Leave?

Warm regards.

From India, Delhi
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Dear Ramesan,

I have provided the above link for guidelines on CASUAL LEAVE, etc.

National and Festival Holidays

For festival/national holidays and Casual & Sick Leave, you can refer to the NATIONAL & FESTIVAL HOLIDAYS & Sick & Casual Leave Act applicable to your state.

The quantity of leave can be determined from the Factories Act if covered under that Act or the Shop & Commercial Establishment Act if covered under the same. Normally, the establishment is covered by either of the Acts applicable in the concerned State.

Types of Leave in Commercial Establishments

Commercial houses typically provide the following types of leave to employees:

- Casual Leave (It is not recognized as leave of absence. Generally, this leave is not permitted to be combined with other types of leave except in some circumstances of sickness/maternity)
- Earned/Privileged Leave
- Half Pay Leave (Commuted on Medical Grounds) (Not granted by management if the employee is covered under ESIC)
- Maternity Leave
- Leave Without Pay if no leave is due

There are other types of leave formulated as per the organization's requirements, such as Study Leave. If such leave is granted to an employee, the organization would like to reap benefits from this extended benevolence.

Thanks,

V K Gupta

From India, Panipat
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National Holidays should not be counted as leave. Regards, Beem
From India, Bangalore
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Leave Calculation for Absences Around National Holidays

This year, 15th August (National Holiday) was on Thursday. If any employee is absent for the next two days, i.e., on Friday and Saturday:

1. What will be the total number of leave days to be counted for the employee?
2. In case the employee has no leave balance in their account, what will be the salary deduction?

Sunday is a weekly off for the organization, which operates under the Bombay Shops & Establishment Act.

Regards.

From India, Mumbai
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Question on Holiday Policy

An organization has a policy of allowing a MAXIMUM of 10 holidays in a calendar year. Are these 10 days inclusive of National holidays? If the answer is yes, then only SIX DAYS are available to select for festivals and other holidays, making a total of 10 days. Am I right?

OR

Are National holidays to be allowed in addition to the company's normal number of holidays of 10 days, making the total holidays 14 in a year?

I would appreciate members' comments on this.

From India, Mumbai
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Dear friends,

We should all be aware and recognize the fact that, except in the government sector and other organized/established firms, the leave policies followed by most firms are not uniform. The majority of them don't seriously adhere to any leave policy at all, and many of them decide at their own whims and fancies. Despite relevant provisions being made in appropriate legislations, no strict leave pattern is followed by the employers. Not only that, compulsory national holidays are also not observed in many firms. Last week, the Tamil Nadu state government authorities registered cases against more than 20 establishments that failed to declare a holiday on 15.8.13. Labor administration, being a subject of state governments, it is the duty of respective state government authorities to oversee such provisions of the law.

Availability of Information

The subject matter is frequently raised in the forum, and I think the information they are looking for is already available through the links. For ready reference, compiled data is attached for the use of those in need. Of course, this information should be updated periodically for any changes.

Regards.

From India, Bangalore
Attached Files (Download Requires Membership)
File Type: doc Leave ATa glance.doc (31.5 KB, 67 views)
File Type: doc Leave Policy for different sectors in India.doc (84.5 KB, 121 views)
File Type: doc LEAVE RULES.doc (38.5 KB, 157 views)

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rkn61
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Referring to the first query on this page:

Employee Absence and Leave Calculation

If any employee is absent for the next two days, i.e., on Friday and Saturday:

1. What will be his total number of days of leave to be counted?
2. In case the employee has no leave balance in his account, what will be his salary deduction?

The total number of days to be counted is two days, provided the person reports on Monday and is present on duty the preceding Wednesday. In case he has no leave balance, two days of LOP will be effected if the above conditions are met.

Holiday Policy Query

An organization has a policy of allowing a maximum of 10 days of holidays in a calendar year. Are these 10 days including National holidays? If the answer is yes, then only SIX DAYS are available to select for festivals and other holidays. All-inclusive holidays become 10 days. Am I right?

A maximum of 10 days of holidays can consist of National Holidays and Festival Holidays. Four National Holidays are compulsory, and the balance days could be Festival holidays. From a statutory point of view, an act is available, namely the National and Festival Holidays Act, 1942. All organizations are expected to make a list of holidays and submit it to the Labour Department under this Act before the 15th of November of the preceding year for the proposed holidays for the coming year.

I trust this clarifies your doubt.

Thanks.

Regards

From India, Aizawl
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As far as the Haryana Government is concerned, we have not come across any notification exempting 'continuous process' industries from National Festival Holidays under the Punjab Industrial Establishment (National and Festival Holidays and Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965, as applicable to the state of Haryana.

R N KHOLA

From India, Delhi
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Should holidays and weekly offs be included or excluded while calculating the number of leaves when holidays fall in between leaves?

It is one of the questions that confuses many HR professionals. Technically speaking, all leaves with pay exclude weekly offs and holidays. This means that even if an employee is on leave for the whole month (30 days), which includes 4 weekly offs and 1 holiday, the employee should be considered on leave for 25 days only.

Similarly, if an employee takes leave from Saturday to Monday where Sunday is the weekly off, then Sunday should not be counted as leave. Hence, only 2 leaves should be counted.

From India, Vadodara
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Hello Bijay, your query surrounds one of the basic principles/practices followed in granting leave to employees. Please be informed:

1. All declared "intervening Holidays" and duty off days sandwiched in-between 'Leave availed' are to be counted as 'Leave'.

2. However, such days "prefixing & suffixing", either weekly off or declared holidays, are treated as "Paid Holidays". There can be exceptions in a few establishments; nonetheless, this is a generally followed practice.

There is no need for any confusion. Your queries discussed here are periodically raised. If you use the search option, you'll be able to read all of them.

Coming back to your examples:

i) On leave for 30 days = please apply rule (1) above.

ii) Leave from "Saturday to Monday" = if Sunday is a weekly off and if Saturday is a working day, all three days should be counted as Leave for 3 days. Consider both 1 and 2 above. This is due to the fact that 'Sunday, a weekly off' is sandwiched between Saturday and Monday, both being working days.

If you need an explanation with more illustrations, please continue.

From India, Bangalore
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rkn61
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Intervening Weekly Off and Leave Policy

Yes, intervening weekly offs should be counted as leave. However, companies may have different policies. For example, a reputed auto major (MNC) headquartered in Chennai has a leave policy where if an employee takes PL for more than a week, the intervening weekly-off (Sunday) will also be considered as PL. On the other hand, if an individual is sick and takes sick leave (lasting more than a week), the intervening weekly-off will be treated as such and not as leave.

Intervening National or Festival Holidays

Intervening national or festival holidays should not be considered as leave.

From India, Aizawl
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