Leave Policy

Define the types of leave, eligibility and processes for all employees in your organization.

The primary objective of introducing Leave policy is to ensure employees are provided with a reasonable and regular amount of rest and recreation away from work. Some types of leave are introduced for personal emergencies. This policy is a guideline for all employees to follow and explains the types of leave available, the eligibility and procedure to avail leave. This policy template is available for download in Word format.

With this Leave policy template, you can:

Explain the different kinds of leave
Define the criteria & process for applying leave
Create an approval mechanism
Specify actions for uninformed leave & management responsibility

In just a few minutes, you will be able to set up a policy that covers most of the necessary information required. This policy covers rules to be followed with respect to:

Requirement of Leaves
Planning of activity
Loss of pay, abscondment and actions
Attendance records and lots more…

Leave Policy

Objective

The primary objective of introducing the Leave policy is to ensure employees are provided with a reasonable and regular amount of rest and recreation away from work. Some types of leave are introduced for personal emergencies. This policy is a guideline for all employees to follow and explains the available leave types, eligibility and procedure to avail leave.

Scope and Applicability

All employees in the organisation.

Policy/Process

Owner & Administration

HR owns the leave policy and hence will administer the same appropriately. The policies and procedures are subject to change from time to time depending on various socio-economic factors or as per law and will be decided solely by HR.

Eligibility

All regular and confirmed employees of the organisation are covered in the leave policy. Employees who are on probation or hired as trainees will be eligible for ___ < type of leave > leave only. Leave year begins from 1st of __ to 31st of __ each year and will be available only upon completion of each year of service. Leave will be credited to individual employee’s leave account in advance at the beginning of the year (or from the date of confirmation), and employees can avail of leave in advance during the year. Employees who have joined during the year will be eligible for prorated leave from the date of confirmation of employment. Any weekly offs or declared holidays or national holidays that fall in between leave applied by an employee will __ <be / not be> considered as leave days.

Prefix/Suffix

Leave taken at the beginning of a work week immediately succeeding a weekly off or end of a work week immediately preceding a weekly off will __ <be / not be> considered as leave days, including the weekly off days.

Other Conditions

It is the responsibility of employees to ensure that their respective Managers take appropriate action on the leave applications before proceeding on leaves.

Leave availed in an emergency and only under unavoidable circumstances must be regularised in the system as soon as possible, which otherwise will result in loss of pay.

If an employee leaves the organisation or becomes ineligible for leaves for whatever reason, leave availed in excess of eligibility will result in loss of pay (LOP).

Employees __ <are / are not> allowed to merge two types of leave continuously.

Extended SL / ML / PTL must be accompanied by a doctor’s certificate and forwarded to HR for action with the consent of the Manager

Types of Leave

Annual / Privilege Leave

All confirmed employees are eligible for __ < number of days > of AL / PL per completed year of service. However, employees can avail leave during the year in advance as and when credited to their respective accounts.

Any unavailed AL/PL during the year will be carried forward to the extent of maximum of __ < number of days > to the next year and included in the next year’s quota. AL/PL can be accumulated up to a maximum of __ < number of days > during a year, and any additional unavailed days will be considered as lapsed. No additional monetary/non-monetary compensation will be given to the employee in lieu of any lapsed AL/PL.

Leave encashment is allowed only upon termination of the contract for any official reason and where the employee has unavailed AL/PL leave balance. Encashment is based on monthly basic salary, divided by 30 days of the month and multiplied by the number of days of unavailed leave balance of the employee.

Grant of leave is at the discretion of the Manager or HR, as the case may be, and in line with the ground reality of any important assignments or client commitment that cannot be compromised.

Procedure to avail AL/PL: Employees are required to plan their annual vacation at least __ <weeks/months> in advance and inform their Managers. Post the discussion and agreement, AL/PL should be appropriately applied through __ <ESS portal / Official mail>.

Casual Leave

All confirmed employees are eligible for __ < number of days > of CL per annum.

Procedure to avail CL: Employees are urged to plan their CL as early as possible and inform their respective Managers. Post discussion and agreement, CL should be appropriately applied through __ < ESS portal / Official mail >.

Sick Leave

All employees are eligible for __ < number of days > of SL per annum. SL cannot be availed for more than __ < number of days > at a time. In case of SL availed for more than prescribed days, it should be accompanied by a registered doctor’s certificate.

Procedure to avail SL: Employees are urged to keep their Managers informed of their sickness at the earliest in order to allow them to plan for continuity of tasks on hand. SL has to be regularised through __ < ESS portal / Official mail > at the earliest opportunity by the employee, which otherwise might lead to loss of pay.

Maternity Leave

Female employees who have worked continuously for a period of _ <mention number of days, but 80 days is minimum as per law> with the company in the past twelve months immediately preceding the date of expected delivery is eligible for maternity leave as per Maternity Benefits Act, as amended in Mar 2017.

Eligible employees can avail of paid Maternity leave for a continuous period of 26 weeks, of which 8 weeks can be availed for the pre-natal period.

Maternity leave of 12 weeks for adopting a child below 3 months and for commissioning mothers are allowed.

Any other maternity conditions other than normal pre-natal / post-natal conditions should be based on doctor’s certificate and discussed with HR / Manager for sanctioning appropriate number of days leave and as permitted by law.

Procedure to avail ML: Employees must keep their Managers informed of their proposed ML to allow them to make alternate plans for continuity of tasks on hand. ML must be applied through __ <ESS portal / Official mail> by the employee. Any approved extension of ML must be updated by the Manager on behalf of the employee in case there is no access to the __ <ESS portal / Official mail> to the employee to avoid any loss of pay.

Paternity Leave

Male employees are eligible to avail __ <number of days - maximum of 15 days as per law, extendable up to 3 months under the medical condition of spouse or child> can avail of PTL from the date of birth of their child.

Procedure to avail PTL: Employees are required to keep their Managers informed of their leave plans to allow them to make alternate plans for continuity of tasks on hand. PTL must be applied through __ <ESS portal / Official mail> by the employee. Any approved extension of PTL must be updated by the Manager on behalf of the employee in case there is no access to the __ <ESS portal / Official mail> to the employee to avoid any loss of pay.

Special Circumstance and Exception

Maternity Leave is applicable only for female employees. Paternity Leave is applicable only for male employees. Any Deviation from this policy has to be approved by HR. Any changes to the policy have to be approved by Legal and Compliance.