Understanding Leave Entitlements Under the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958
We have less than 20 staff in Jaipur and appear to be covered by the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958. The Act states that we need to give our staff 20 days of annual leave. According to Section 14, "Annual leave with wages," every employee who has worked for a period of 240 days or more in an establishment during a calendar year shall be allowed, during the subsequent calendar year, leave with wages for a number of days calculated at the rate of one day for every twelve days of work performed by them during the previous calendar year.
We currently provide our staff with 3 National Holidays, 8 festival days, and 15 earned leave days. Staff work 5 days per week and the 1st Saturday of each month for 5 hours.
I'd like to know, please:
* Does the 20 days in the Act cover festival days and earned leave?
* Are our holidays fair compared to other parts of India?
Is there any way that a company policy can override this?
Regards
From New Zealand, Auckland
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We have less than 20 staff in Jaipur and appear to be covered by the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958. The Act states that we need to give our staff 20 days of annual leave. According to Section 14, "Annual leave with wages," every employee who has worked for a period of 240 days or more in an establishment during a calendar year shall be allowed, during the subsequent calendar year, leave with wages for a number of days calculated at the rate of one day for every twelve days of work performed by them during the previous calendar year.
We currently provide our staff with 3 National Holidays, 8 festival days, and 15 earned leave days. Staff work 5 days per week and the 1st Saturday of each month for 5 hours.
I'd like to know, please:
* Does the 20 days in the Act cover festival days and earned leave?
* Are our holidays fair compared to other parts of India?
Is there any way that a company policy can override this?
Regards
From New Zealand, Auckland
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Understanding Leave Entitlement Under the Rajasthan Shops and Commercial Establishments Act
It is not 20 leaves, but it should be one leave per 12 days physically present in the previous calendar year. The significance of 240 days is that this is the minimum number of days required to be present in order to qualify for leave in the current year. These 240 days are the paid days, which include all holidays, maternity leave days, or leave availed by the employee in the previous year.
In your example, you should have approximately 276 working days in a year. That is, 30 minus 7 weekly offs in a month, multiplied by 12. These weekly off days will be counted as days worked for the purpose of deciding the eligibility of employees for leave in the subsequent year, as these days are also paid days. Therefore, an employee who remains on leave without pay for more than 125 days will be disentitled to leave in the succeeding year.
Take another example: an employee has worked for 136 days in 2015, availed leave with pay for 20 days, and was obviously on weekly off for 84 days (7 days in a month). He will be eligible for leave in 2016 because his paid days in 2015 are 240 days. Though he had worked for 240 days for the purpose of eligibility, he will get leave only on the basis of actual days physically present, which is 136/12 or 11 days.
Supposing that he has worked for all the days, i.e., 276 days, his leave for the year 2016 would be 23 days. The leave you have fixed should be revised according to the pattern mentioned above in order to comply with the law.
The leaves mentioned above will not cover the National and Festival Holidays. Holidays are regulated by separate state Acts. Unfortunately, I don't find that there is any Holiday Act for Rajasthan, but most other states have such an Act to regulate holidays. In the absence of a separate Act (please confirm if it is so), the holidays that you give seem to be okay, but don't think that your holidays are fair compared to other parts of India. Please remember that Kerala has 13 days of holidays (4 National Holidays and 9 Festival Holidays) in a year, and the employees in shops and commercial establishments in Kerala have 36 days of leave per year!
Regards, Madhu.T.K
From India, Kannur
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4526It is not 20 leaves, but it should be one leave per 12 days physically present in the previous calendar year. The significance of 240 days is that this is the minimum number of days required to be present in order to qualify for leave in the current year. These 240 days are the paid days, which include all holidays, maternity leave days, or leave availed by the employee in the previous year.
In your example, you should have approximately 276 working days in a year. That is, 30 minus 7 weekly offs in a month, multiplied by 12. These weekly off days will be counted as days worked for the purpose of deciding the eligibility of employees for leave in the subsequent year, as these days are also paid days. Therefore, an employee who remains on leave without pay for more than 125 days will be disentitled to leave in the succeeding year.
Take another example: an employee has worked for 136 days in 2015, availed leave with pay for 20 days, and was obviously on weekly off for 84 days (7 days in a month). He will be eligible for leave in 2016 because his paid days in 2015 are 240 days. Though he had worked for 240 days for the purpose of eligibility, he will get leave only on the basis of actual days physically present, which is 136/12 or 11 days.
Supposing that he has worked for all the days, i.e., 276 days, his leave for the year 2016 would be 23 days. The leave you have fixed should be revised according to the pattern mentioned above in order to comply with the law.
The leaves mentioned above will not cover the National and Festival Holidays. Holidays are regulated by separate state Acts. Unfortunately, I don't find that there is any Holiday Act for Rajasthan, but most other states have such an Act to regulate holidays. In the absence of a separate Act (please confirm if it is so), the holidays that you give seem to be okay, but don't think that your holidays are fair compared to other parts of India. Please remember that Kerala has 13 days of holidays (4 National Holidays and 9 Festival Holidays) in a year, and the employees in shops and commercial establishments in Kerala have 36 days of leave per year!
Regards, Madhu.T.K
From India, Kannur
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LIST OF HOLIDAYS UNDER SHOPS & ESTABLISHMENT ACT - ANDHRA PRADESH.pdf