LEAVE ABRACADABRA
Please I need your answer on the following situations.
I work in an establishment which has been in operations for 7 years now. Many staff joined in March 2008 and during the course of working in the year the HR Department directed all HODs to do a leave roaster from that same time, i.e October 2008. This is because they envisaged that it will affect the company if about 30 staff go on leave in March 2009 (anniversary date).
Now fast word to 2014, some staff want to go on leave but the HR said this was not possible that the staff have gone for 120 days in the space of six years, that is 20 days each year. This is currently the seventh year running for the staff; better put, the staff concerned will clock 7 years by February 2015. The HR is saying the staff are not entitled to the leave this year because of the 120 days done already, but I believe this is wrong. Should they not observe 7 annual leaves in 7 years, or is it 6 annual leaves in 7 years.
Please what is the appropriate thing?
J.
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Case treated by our HR Specialist:
Moruf Kolawole Nasir
(Experienced HR professional)
nmkolawole@gmail.com; info@jarushub.com
Sincerely speaking most of HR issues are better resolved interactively; just like medical doctors, we ask few questions to determine what operates in each situation.
However if I got her correctly her case seems easy. I will simply highlight some key point on leave administration which will answer her question and be very useful to other readers.
1. 20 working days or one month annual leave is not a law that is cast in stone, i.e what must be observed, except otherwise stated in the company policy or agreed by all in whatever way the company chooses to pass it policies. As a matter of fact some organizations do 15 days while others vary the period according to staff level of seniority etc. But her case is clear, there is the normal 20 days so I will speak based on that.
2. By best practice, staff are entitled to annual leave after confirmation of appointment and after spending at least six months in the organization. PLEASE NOTE that the six months is in the case of a resigning staff and the leave allowance WILL be prorated, if resignation issue did not arise staff are entitled to leave after 12 calendar months of working in the organization.
3. Three, nobody goes on leave in advance, except in some special situations where the HR decides to let go and deducts such from the staff’s subsequent leave, in her case I hope the staff observe leave this year (disregard the number of the total days first). If they did, well done to the HR, if they didn’t he /she should have split the leave to cover every year, but by and large the HR person seems to be on track.
4. To finally hit the nail of your question on the head; to calculate when a staff is entitled to annual leave, start from the staff date of employment, after working for one year the staff earns an annual leave, after another year he/she earns another and another and so on as long as the staff remains in employment. With these, I am afraid the concern staff is yet to complete another year(of his/her own employment anniversary) that will qualify him/her for another annual leave, that is, when he/she clocks 7, he/she earns the seventh annual leave which can then be fixed from that day on. If a staff resigns however, at the point of his/her exit his or her leave and the allowance is prorated and paid even if it is two months into another year of the staff anniversary. ALSO note that organizational rules/policies may vary in some of the above but the standard practice on J’s case is what I have stated above.
I hope I have been able to help with the above breakdown.
thanks for this article.