Indian employment law - Sundays counted as holidays when taking leave???

alexinindia

Hi there,

I'm just been baffled, infuriated and appalled when I applied for annual leave at my organisation, and was wondering if anyone else knew much about the situation/ had experienced the same thing.

I get 15 days annual leave a year, and work Monday to Saturday. I asked to start my leave on a Wednesday, going through that week, the whole of the following week, and going back into the office the Monday afterwards (so Wed - Sat, and Mon - Sat = 10 days leave).

My boss signed the form, but changed it to 12 days leave - he claimed that the law is that if you take leave and a Sunday falls within that period, it is also counted as leave!! He said it was an India-wide rule..

This strikes me as not only absolute nonsense, but also a violation of rights! Sunday is not a working day, so why would I need to take it as leave? Surely my Sundays are not my company's, or the Government's, or India's, to take, and it's nobody's business where I am on a Sunday if it's not a working day?

I'm working as a consultant and I'm not an Indian so I can probably kick up a big fuss and get it back to 10 days leave, but I feel so bad for my colleagues for having to be subjected to this ludicrous rule!

Apologies for the rant, but I'd love to hear from anyone who knows a) if it's true that this is a general rule b) if anyone puts up with it/ has questioned it at their place of employment..

cheers!

arunganpath

It is generally a rule and is part of the HR manual. Intervening holidays are counted as leave.

imemyselfindian

Hi,
There is no government rule here. This policy differs from organization to organization and is listed in your companies HR manuals. Unless your orginal contract asks you to have a 7 day work week (which I doubt) logically there is no reason why an intervening Sunday should be added to your holidays

arunganpath

Are you working in software industry.. otherwise, I dont think of any organisation in manufacturing sector where intervening sunday is not taken as holiday. this is applicable for government servants as well.

hitanshu

While Sundays are not working - it is part of the maze of HR contracts. It is honestly completely bullshit but that's how it is.

You being a consultant can always wangle your way out of it.

But 15 days of leave a year is too less. It makes sense in a 5 day work week (3 week of leaves), not a 6 day workweek.

PS: Which company? Could you PM - am interested in knowing - maybe I might know you!

__________________
SMASH!!!!

imemyselfindian

OP has posted that he has 15 days annual leave which would be way less if you compare to the segment you mention where intervening Sundays are counted as a holiday ... They have more casual leaves.

alexinindia

Thanks everyone, although it's depressing to know that many organisations find this rule completely acceptable and enforce it!

I work for an NGO.. We actually get ten days extra holiday (if you count Sundays..!) but that's over Christmas/ New Year so there's no much holiday allowance - if Sundays are included - when you might actually choose to take it.

Damn! Wish I could get the rules changed for all my colleagues, but I doubt it..

But does anyone know WHY this rule would exist? Is it to try and discourage people from taking more than a day off at a time, or what?

Nick-H

Many Indian employers do not give a damn; they are only interested in getting what they can from the employee before they leave.

To be fare to the employers, in the period before the current recession, employees did not have much loyalty either.

federica

Just asking myself how many days your boss will count if you take a leave from Monday to Saturday... 6? 7? 8?

arunganpath

It will be 6..

federica

then the best bet is to take that one week and after sometime another one and then the last 3 days

rsk11584

Rule differs from company to company , also for your information,

let me also apprise you of the prefix , suffix rule,

for example assuming sat, sun are weekly offs, if you take holiday from friday to monday (2 days friday and monday, then the sat sun will also be counted as leave, and deducted from your quota.

So if you take leave on thursday, friday then make it a point to join office on monday.

MonkeyBoy4u

I am aware of this rule when taking leave without pay in certain government organisations.

people working in government organisations are known as government servants and the government has the right to know where they are on Sundays.

I dont know the exact rule number, of the above, but this is how it works for many of my friends working in the government sector !

But since you are a contractor this rule should not be applicable to you at all

__________________
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

~ Robert Frost

thejag

dunno why it exists but an off after several work days are mandatory. it defies logic to still have an off without having worked at all...

My ex-employer(not sure about others) pay an equal amount for days marked off and present. if they pay you Rs 15000 for a month with 30 days. it breaks down to Rs 500 for every day that you were present or on Off.

i dont think it is entirely unfair beacuse we (atleast i did) get paid extra when working on off and even extra when working on offs which are national holidays.

I used to specifically volunteer to work on my offs (i hadnt discovered indiamike yet) which were also holidays to compensate for others taking leaves. Id get paid for an extra 2 days for working on a holiday (which is paid for in my ex-company) which also happened to be my off. effectively being paid for 3 days (there were certain conditions that made it 4 days pay for one day of work and i know i exploited this a few times) worth for a days work. Ofcourse they have changed the rules to reduce it to one day extra pay never mind im no longer employed there.

ok back to topic. so if you are on leave where is the point of paying for an off when you havent shown up for work otherwise before and after the off day? this is what we were told.

Edit:

1) the rule exists
2) never bothered challenging this as it would have been counter productive for me. i got paid extra. saved leaves and took paid leaves when everyone was back from the holidays and there was enough staffing

Nick-H

God, I'd hate to be a worker here