The Punjab Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays and Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965 (Act 14 of 1965) monitors and claims the festivals, holidays, casual and sick leave in Punjab that employees and workers can take in a year. The Act has been enforced in the National Capital Territory of Delhi w.e.f. 1.1.1974 and applies to factories covered under provisions of the Factories Act, 1948.

The act specifies that every employee is entitled to 3 National holidays and 4 festival holidays in a year. The Act also specified 7 days of sick leave in Punjab and 14 days of Sick Leave in Punjab at half pay in a year.

About Punjab

Punjab is a province of northern India and is adjacent to Jammu and Kashmir. Its capital city is Chandigarh - Union Territory which is also the capital city of Haryana. Punjab has a total of 1.53% of the total geographic area of India, making it the 20th largest area in India.

With a population of 27,704,236 in the 2011 census, Punjab is the sixteenth most populous state out of 22 districts and Punjabi, written in Gurmukhi, is the most spoken language in the state. The main ethnic group in Punjab, is a group dominated by Sikhs (57.7%) and Hindus (38.5%). Punjab is covered by 5 rivers that gave Punjab its name. These rivers are the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, and Jhelum rivers.

About Sick Leave in Punjab

Employees and workers as specified in the Punjab Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays and Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965 are entitled to Sick leave in Punjab for 7 days. But if the employees are enrolled under the sickness benefit as applied by the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, the sick leave in Punjab of 7 days will not be applicable.

Most factories are covered by the State Employee Insurance Act of 1948, so sickness benefits and provisions usually don't apply to factory workers. As described in section 14 of this law, the contents of this law do not affect the rights or privileges that employees have under the law, contract, custom, or other practice.

The law requires records of unintentional and sick leave in Punjab taken by employees. There are also provisions for mutual agreement between management and workers under this Act and the rules set forth therein to determine the days to be observed as annual holidays.

Sick Leave In Punjab and Other Leave Rules as specified by the Government of Punjab are:

Leave Rules For Punjab – Also covered by the Punjab Shops & Establishments Act.

Item	Qty	Remarks
Annual / Privileged / Earned Leave (AL/PL/EL)	18 days
Casual Leave (CL)	7 Days
Sick Leave (SL)	7 days
Maximum AL/PL that can be carried forward	30 Days
Working hours in a day	9
Total hours in a week	48
Rest Interval	30 minutes	Rest after 5 hours of work

Applicability of Sick Leave in Punjab

All employees who work more than 20 days per year are entitled to one day of paid vacation every 20 days. However, young people can take one day off paid that year for every 15 days of work
When calculating leave under this Article, portions of more than half a day will be treated as one day's leave and portions of less than half a day will be ignored
If an employee does not take all the leave allowed in one year, the leave not taken will be added to the following year
The total number of vacation days that can be carried forward to the following year, subject to agreement between the employer and the employee, cannot exceed 40 days for young people and 30 days for others
The provisions of this section are without prejudice to any rights an employee may have under any other law or concession, agreement, or service contract
If such subsidy, contract, or service agreement includes paid leave, permitted sick leave in Punjab, or longer weekly leave than provided in this section, the employee may only take longer leave or, as the case may be. Employees reserve the right to receive weekly holidays
The sick leave in Punjab and other leave periods is limited to the application unless justified, the employer will inform the employee in writing within 15 days of the application. Denied leave will be granted during the year if requested again
The employee's unused sick leave in Punjab is not included in the calculation of the duration of dismissal, or notice of termination that must be reported before the dismissal
Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, all employees of the Company are granted 7 days of sick leave in Punjab per year
Persons who have worked 15 days or more in or around the establishment must be paid at a rate equal to or greater than the average daily wage earned that day for each public holiday of the week
For leaves permitted under Section 14, employees will be paid a rate equal to the average daily full-time income on the day they worked in the month immediately preceding the leave, excluding overtime and bonuses

Rules Regarding Sick Leave in Punjab

Sick leave in Punjab is covered under the Article 15 (2) Paragraph 4 read in (a), (b) of the Punjab Industrial Establishments (National And Festival Holidays And Casual And Sick Leave) Act, 1965

If sick leave in Punjab lasts more than 2 days, it will be granted according to the request, supported by the medical certificate of the registered doctor
However, the employer requires the employee to obtain this medical certificate from a licensed doctor of an industrial facility or a doctor in charge of a local public hospital and a signed medical certificate
If there is any fee for the authorization of the medical certificate to support the employee’s sick leave in Punjab, the employer is entitled to pay for it
If the employee is suspected of having a contagious or infectious disease, the employee will be visited by the employer at the expense of the employer and the employee will continue with his sick leave in Punjab as he had applied

Compared to the Rules Regarding Casual Leave in Punjab

Casual Leave in Punjab comes under Section 4 read in Section 15 (2) (b) of the Punjab Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays and Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965

During the first year of employment, employees can receive up to two days of extra leave every three months of work
If an employee works more than 45 days in less than 3 months during the calendar year, an extra day off may be granted
Casual leave not availed expires at the end of the calendar year. If the employer refuses additional paid leave for his or her benefit, the worker is paid by giving an extra day on compensatory off or by paying the average daily wage for that day
Casual leave cannot be combined with any leave without the express consent of the employer
Except for urgent reasons, casual leave cannot be applied for or granted for more than two consecutive days
The application for casual leave must be submitted to the department concerned two days in advance and must be approved in advance. It being understood that in the event of an emergency, death or serious family illness [or for any other sufficient cause] this request can be made immediately upon resuming the service, citing the compelling reasons for obtaining the prior authorization and approval of the casual leave
When an employee works with a large number of employees to take casual leave for a comparable period and the employer believes that the request for leave was made for an unfavorable purpose, the application can be rejected with reasons. A record needs to be maintained and stored for the same
For work in an industrial establishment, the employer may reject the application for reasons of written registration and, if possible, transfer it to the employee concerned, resulting in the employee's refusal. However, the employee can again request for a casual leave which was denied earlier, at other times of the year and the request should be handled by the employer on a regular basis

Record maintenance

Article 15 (2) (c)]. - (1) of the Punjab Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays and Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965 specified that:

Each employer must file a sick leave in Punjab or any other leave statement with the district superintendent to allow employees to take leave in the calendar years before December 31 of the preceding year
A copy of this statement will be presented to the union of workers of industrial structures and will also be displayed on the notice board of industrial structures in a prominent place
Vacation, Temporary Leave, and Sick Leave in Punjab Records are stored in Form B

Penalties and Fines

Under Article 15, paragraph 3 of the Punjab Industrial Establishments (National And Festival Holidays And Casual And Sick Leave) Act, 1965, anyone who violates the provisions of the regulation will be punished and can be fined up to 50 rupees.

Forms and Compliance Records regarding Sick Leave in Punjab

The employer needs to maintain the following forms and records of leaves and sick leave in Punjab taken by employees:

Form 'A'

Statement of Festival Holidays to be sent to the Inspector of the area and to be exhibited and maintained in a factory under the Punjab Industrial Establishments (National and Festival [Holidays] and Casual and Sick Leave in Punjab) Rules, 1965.

Serial No.	Name and address of the establishment	Particulars of the days observed as Festival Holidays	Whether whole day or half-day	*[Number and date of the settlement through the representative of the workers elected under rule 4] - vide which the Holidays were determined	Remarks
1	2	3	4	5	6

* Column 5 Substituted vide Punjab Legislative Supplement Part III dated 18-6-1980.

Form 'B'

Register of Festival Holidays, Casual and Sick Leave in respect of Shri .............. for the year 19 ............, under the Punjab Industrial Establishments (National and Festival [Holidays] and Casual and Sick Leave in Punjab) Rules, 1965.

Date of joining service ...........
Whether covered by the Employees State Insurance Scheme. - Yes/No.

Serial No.	Number of festival holidays/casual/sick leave due at the beginning of the year	Period for which festival holidays/casual/sick leave applied for	Whether granted or refused	Remarks
1	2	3	4	5

Conclusion

Sick Leave in Punjab is granted by the employer for 7 days and 14 days as half days in the manner and under the conditions specified for each calendar year. The sick leave in Punjab cannot be combined with any other leave, whether it is taken under this law or any other law in effect at that time.

The employer is liable to pay wages for the 7 days of sick leave in Punjab at a rate equivalent to the average daily wage. This is applicable if the employee’s sick leave in Punjab, festival offs, or unofficial or casual days are approved.

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Key Takeaways

The Punjab Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays and Casual and Sick Leave) Act, 1965 monitors and claims the Sick Leave in Punjab and other casual leaves that can be taken by employees working in Punjab
Contrary to national holidays that are granted, there is no right to pay these wages on leaves or holidays. However, 7 days of sick leave in India is permissible by the Act provided the employee provides the necessary documentation and medical certificate for the same
Sick Leave in Punjab (sickness benefits) stands unqualified if the employee is registered under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, or sickness allowance under the Plantation Labour Act, 1951
For the purposes of this section, an employee's average daily pay is calculated on the basis of the total full-time pay for the past three months, excluding overtime pay. However, an employee's average daily wage paid per day or per unit is calculated based on that leave's wages or the actual day worked in the month immediately preceding the leave
All employers must maintain a format of sick leave in Punjab by which they can determine the calculation of each employee's holidays, casual leaves and sick leave in Punjab, and each employee must have access to this account
The Punjab government may, by notice, specify the category of the person deemed suitable for an inspector to accomplish the purposes of this Act in the areas which may be specified in the notice under Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code (Central Law No. XLV, 1860) who will be authorised to check the leave/holiday records and registers