Dear Reader,
A company I have recently started working for, where I am the only HR representative, grants no leaves whatsoever to the employees. There are no sick leaves, no casual leaves, no annual leaves... The management explains that until recently they had a 6-day working week at the office. Now they have made 2 Saturdays off, thus giving the employees 2 days off per month.
Thus the new rule is, "you don't come for work, you don't get paid." The employees have accepted this. The problem is that now no one informs the management before taking a leave; they just say, "if I don't come to the office, deduct my day's pay."
Now the management wants to deduct 2 days' pay for every day taken by the employee if not informed in advance.
My question is how illegal is all this?
From United States
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A company I have recently started working for, where I am the only HR representative, grants no leaves whatsoever to the employees. There are no sick leaves, no casual leaves, no annual leaves... The management explains that until recently they had a 6-day working week at the office. Now they have made 2 Saturdays off, thus giving the employees 2 days off per month.
Thus the new rule is, "you don't come for work, you don't get paid." The employees have accepted this. The problem is that now no one informs the management before taking a leave; they just say, "if I don't come to the office, deduct my day's pay."
Now the management wants to deduct 2 days' pay for every day taken by the employee if not informed in advance.
My question is how illegal is all this?
From United States
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Dear Yamini,
Prima facie, everything appears to be illegal. However, you could have given a little more information. We would like to know:
a) Your company is located in what state?
b) Is your company registered under the Factories Act or the Shops and Establishments Act?
Under the provisions of either act, employees are eligible for earned leave. The provisions of the act differ from one state to another; however, the minimum admissible earned leave is 15 days.
Instead of giving two Saturdays off, your employers can very well have a six-day week. By giving two Saturdays off, in fact, the management is giving 24 days off per annum unnecessarily. Rather than this, let them follow the route of the law to avoid legal hassles of any kind in the future.
Your management can declare that for every 20 working days an employee is eligible for 1.5 days of earned leave. This way, every employee becomes eligible for 18 days of leave per annum. This leave can be accumulated as per the legal provisions.
However, this may not be sufficient. You need to check the provisions of the law and find out whether you need to provide sick leave or casual leave to the employees.
Now, coming to the culture of your company. Your employees have reconciled to the deductions from their salary. They consider it a fait accompli.
I had a case wherein the owner of one company started withholding the first month's salary. This was done to avoid abandonment of employment by the staff. He thought that employees would be lured by their one month's salary and would give him sufficient notice to stop abandoning their employment. Nothing happened that way. Employees simply reconciled to the deduction of the first month's salary, and they continued to abandon their employment. Hardly anyone came back and asked for their money.
Cases like this happen because of a lack of legal awareness in India. Nobody knows what their rights are, and not many employers know in what legal framework they can run their business. They are so obsessed with their vision and mission that giving short shrift to the legal provisions hardly matters to them.
Ok...
Dinesh V Divekar
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.
From India, Bangalore
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8035Prima facie, everything appears to be illegal. However, you could have given a little more information. We would like to know:
a) Your company is located in what state?
b) Is your company registered under the Factories Act or the Shops and Establishments Act?
Under the provisions of either act, employees are eligible for earned leave. The provisions of the act differ from one state to another; however, the minimum admissible earned leave is 15 days.
Instead of giving two Saturdays off, your employers can very well have a six-day week. By giving two Saturdays off, in fact, the management is giving 24 days off per annum unnecessarily. Rather than this, let them follow the route of the law to avoid legal hassles of any kind in the future.
Your management can declare that for every 20 working days an employee is eligible for 1.5 days of earned leave. This way, every employee becomes eligible for 18 days of leave per annum. This leave can be accumulated as per the legal provisions.
However, this may not be sufficient. You need to check the provisions of the law and find out whether you need to provide sick leave or casual leave to the employees.
Now, coming to the culture of your company. Your employees have reconciled to the deductions from their salary. They consider it a fait accompli.
I had a case wherein the owner of one company started withholding the first month's salary. This was done to avoid abandonment of employment by the staff. He thought that employees would be lured by their one month's salary and would give him sufficient notice to stop abandoning their employment. Nothing happened that way. Employees simply reconciled to the deduction of the first month's salary, and they continued to abandon their employment. Hardly anyone came back and asked for their money.
Cases like this happen because of a lack of legal awareness in India. Nobody knows what their rights are, and not many employers know in what legal framework they can run their business. They are so obsessed with their vision and mission that giving short shrift to the legal provisions hardly matters to them.
Ok...
Dinesh V Divekar
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.
From India, Bangalore
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Dear Dinesh,
The company is in West Bengal. The management is happy to give Saturdays off since most people took leaves on Saturday, and those who did not were also unable to complete their work without their counterparts, thus decreasing the overall efficiency.
Fait accompli or not, is it the right thing to do? Can an employer legally deduct two days' pay for one day of leave?
Regards,
Yamini
From United States
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The company is in West Bengal. The management is happy to give Saturdays off since most people took leaves on Saturday, and those who did not were also unable to complete their work without their counterparts, thus decreasing the overall efficiency.
Fait accompli or not, is it the right thing to do? Can an employer legally deduct two days' pay for one day of leave?
Regards,
Yamini
From United States
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Dear Yamini,
It is illegal. You can deduct only the one day's pay if the employee is absent for one day. I hope yours is a partnership/proprietorship company where the management will establish the rules as they see fit. It would be better if you speak with the management and convince them that it is wrong.
Instead, you can introduce an attendance bonus/rewards for the employees who come regularly to the office. If the employee believes that by taking one day's leave, they will be deducted one or two days' pay, then you cannot change the attitude of the employee/employees, and it will become the culture of the organization.
Introduce a new system where if you find some employees taking leave without informing, give them a warning letter, and a person receiving three warning letters will be terminated.
From India, Mumbai
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It is illegal. You can deduct only the one day's pay if the employee is absent for one day. I hope yours is a partnership/proprietorship company where the management will establish the rules as they see fit. It would be better if you speak with the management and convince them that it is wrong.
Instead, you can introduce an attendance bonus/rewards for the employees who come regularly to the office. If the employee believes that by taking one day's leave, they will be deducted one or two days' pay, then you cannot change the attitude of the employee/employees, and it will become the culture of the organization.
Introduce a new system where if you find some employees taking leave without informing, give them a warning letter, and a person receiving three warning letters will be terminated.
From India, Mumbai
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Owners are greedy! who think by setting up a business and employing others they are doing some sort of favor !! What a shame
From Kuwait, Salmiya
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From Kuwait, Salmiya
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This is not only illegal but a very unethical and unfriendly policy. It reveals mindlessness of the organisation.
I suggest you bring this matter to the attention of the labor office immediately. It is also not necessary to mention your name.
From India, Mumbai
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I suggest you bring this matter to the attention of the labor office immediately. It is also not necessary to mention your name.
From India, Mumbai
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As an HR professional, you need to explain to your management about the legal obligations relating to leave and other employee welfare activities, which are mandatory as per the Factory Act 1948. Make sure that before convincing your management, you have a proper and complete understanding of the Factory Act.
Prepare yourself first because you are going to explain it to management. Be confident about what you want to say. While explaining, elaborate on management's responsibility and how it will impact the company's image. Avoid using words that show favoritism towards employees.
For any assistance regarding legal matters, you can directly call on the cell phone number: 09730049501.
Regards,
Baba Avhad
Sr. Executive HR & Admin.
09730049501
From India, Pune
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Prepare yourself first because you are going to explain it to management. Be confident about what you want to say. While explaining, elaborate on management's responsibility and how it will impact the company's image. Avoid using words that show favoritism towards employees.
For any assistance regarding legal matters, you can directly call on the cell phone number: 09730049501.
Regards,
Baba Avhad
Sr. Executive HR & Admin.
09730049501
From India, Pune
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Your company's management needs to go through the legal aspects of running an organization. Make some notes and, if possible, extract some information from legal cases where action has been taken by concerned departments against companies for violations of acts.
As an HR person, you need to take stern action against employees and ensure that their department heads also face consequences. Call a meeting of all department heads, establish a leave policy with action details if the policy is not adhered to. The most crucial aspect is to get written confirmation from department heads and employees if they take leave without informing.
There are other methods, but since your management is not professional, they will likely be more inclined towards reprimanding the employees.
Best of luck.
Regards,
Suresh Sharma
Kenhr Management Consultancy
From India, Jaipur
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As an HR person, you need to take stern action against employees and ensure that their department heads also face consequences. Call a meeting of all department heads, establish a leave policy with action details if the policy is not adhered to. The most crucial aspect is to get written confirmation from department heads and employees if they take leave without informing.
There are other methods, but since your management is not professional, they will likely be more inclined towards reprimanding the employees.
Best of luck.
Regards,
Suresh Sharma
Kenhr Management Consultancy
From India, Jaipur
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This is ridiculous. How is it possible without any weekly holiday? Even if it is doing these nasty things, is there any other specialty to relax and make the mind fresh?
The government intervenes to address and deter such activities.
From India, Madras
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The government intervenes to address and deter such activities.
From India, Madras
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Dear Yamini,
This is not only illegal but also unethical to deduct 2days pay for 1 day leave taken.
This is time for you to act, talk to the management.
I can share one such experience of mine. I have worked in an organisation, where there was no leaves given to trainees for one complete year. No Privileged Leave, Sick leave or Casual leave. If leave taken, accordingly the salary would be deducted.
This was liable only for trainees. For laterals all leaves (PL, SL, CL) were given.
However after raising our voice, within a year the policy was changed and now trainees have 10 days of special leave.
My point is if you take initiative, there is a possibility for a positive change.
May be stern actions against the rule breakers can help, but if u really want to help the oragnisation and its people, I would recommend why don’t you go for an open discussion forum of employee and employer regarding this issue
Regards
Rajeshree
Poresys Technologies
From India, Pune
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This is not only illegal but also unethical to deduct 2days pay for 1 day leave taken.
This is time for you to act, talk to the management.
I can share one such experience of mine. I have worked in an organisation, where there was no leaves given to trainees for one complete year. No Privileged Leave, Sick leave or Casual leave. If leave taken, accordingly the salary would be deducted.
This was liable only for trainees. For laterals all leaves (PL, SL, CL) were given.
However after raising our voice, within a year the policy was changed and now trainees have 10 days of special leave.
My point is if you take initiative, there is a possibility for a positive change.
May be stern actions against the rule breakers can help, but if u really want to help the oragnisation and its people, I would recommend why don’t you go for an open discussion forum of employee and employer regarding this issue
Regards
Rajeshree
Poresys Technologies
From India, Pune
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Dear All,
I have gone through all the comments. Yes, you are right. I myself run an organization and provide all the benefits to my employees, but I find it very challenging when both senior and junior employees disappear for one or two days after receiving their salary. As a result, my clients complain and deduct payment in lieu of that. I work in the service industry. Now, please advise what kind of penalties can be imposed on these employees under the law.
Thanks,
Indu
From India, New Delhi
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I have gone through all the comments. Yes, you are right. I myself run an organization and provide all the benefits to my employees, but I find it very challenging when both senior and junior employees disappear for one or two days after receiving their salary. As a result, my clients complain and deduct payment in lieu of that. I work in the service industry. Now, please advise what kind of penalties can be imposed on these employees under the law.
Thanks,
Indu
From India, New Delhi
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Dear All,
I am facing the same problem as I have just joined a new company, and I am the only HR in the factory. My management does not give any leave to the employees, and they deduct pay for every single day of leave taken as there is no leave policy in place.
I would like to know what the penalties or consequences of this could be. My factory is situated in Karnataka.
From India, Bengaluru
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I am facing the same problem as I have just joined a new company, and I am the only HR in the factory. My management does not give any leave to the employees, and they deduct pay for every single day of leave taken as there is no leave policy in place.
I would like to know what the penalties or consequences of this could be. My factory is situated in Karnataka.
From India, Bengaluru
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