Leave policy for clinic staff in India: the Shops Act floor Earned leave, sick leave, the weekly off and national holidays, with the section for Delhi and Karnataka.

A leave policy for clinic staff in India has to give at least what the state Shops and Establishments Act gives, because section 24 of the Delhi Act and section 14 of the Karnataka Act make any agreement for less void or ineffective. In Delhi that is fifteen days' privilege leave after each twelve months and twelve days' sickness or casual leave each year. In Karnataka it is one day of earned leave for every twenty days worked and twelve days' leave for sickness, accident or other reasonable cause. Every state's Act differs in the number and the name of the leave; the table below gives two we read, and the method applies to the rest.

Which law sets leave for a clinic in 2026?

Two layers. The state Shops and Establishments Act applies to a clinic as a commercial establishment where the state has not exempted it, and it applies from the first employee. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, in force since 21 November 2025 under S.O. 5321(E), applies its hours and leave chapter to an "establishment", which section 2(1)(v) defines as a place where any trade, business or occupation "is carried on in which ten or more workers are employed". A clinic of three to nine staff is governed by the state Act alone; a clinic of ten or more has both, and the better entitlement prevails where they overlap. Our post on the shop and establishment licence for clinics covers registration under the state Acts; this post covers only leave, hours and holidays.

Leave entitlements, state by state

We left out states whose current Act we could not read on a government or official-text site on 30 October 2026, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. For those, open the labour department's copy of the Shops and Establishments Act, find the chapter headed "Leave" or "Holidays and Leave", and read the section with the number of days and the one before it with the hours.

Delhi: fifteen plus twelve, and three national holidays

Section 22(1) of the Delhi Act gives every person employed in an establishment privilege leave of not less than fifteen days after every twelve months' continuous employment and sickness or casual leave of not less than twelve days in every year. The proviso lets an employee who has completed four months take five days' privilege leave, and one who has completed a month take one day's casual leave. Section 22(1A) lets privilege leave accumulate up to three times the yearly entitlement, and says sickness or casual leave "shall not be accumulated". Section 23 fixes leave pay at the daily average of the preceding three months' wages, excluding overtime and including dearness allowance.

Hours are in section 8: not more than nine hours on any day or 48 in any week, with an allowance for stock-taking up to 54 hours in a week and 150 hours in a year. Section 16 requires the establishment to close on the notified close day and on three national holidays, and section 18 forbids any deduction for either, adding that a daily-wage employee "shall nonetheless be paid his daily wage for the holiday".

Karnataka: one day per twenty worked, twelve days' sick leave

Section 15(1) of the Karnataka Act gives every employee leave with wages at one day for every twenty days worked by an adult, counting lay-off days, maternity leave up to twelve weeks and last year's leave as days worked. Section 15(3) adds leave with wages "for a period not exceeding twelve days" in each twelve months of service for sickness, accident "or for any other reasonable cause". Section 15(7) carries unused earned leave into the next year up to thirty days in the copy we read; the amendment list on that copy runs to 2021, so confirm the current figure with the department. Section 15(8) lets the employee apply in writing at least ten days ahead and limits leave to three spells a year unless the employer agrees to more.

Section 7 caps work at nine hours a day and 48 a week, with a total of ten hours including overtime and fifty overtime hours in three months; section 8 pays overtime at twice the normal wage. Section 12(3) gives "at least one whole day in a week as a holiday for rest", section 12(4) forbids calling an employee in on that day, and section 12(5) forbids any deduction for it.

Ten or more workers: the OSH Code's leave rule

Section 32(1) of the Code gives every worker who has worked 180 days or more in the calendar year leave with wages at one day for every twenty days worked, with holidays falling inside the leave excluded, carry-forward up to thirty days, unlimited carry-forward of leave that was applied for and refused, encashment on demand at the end of the year, and encashment of anything above thirty days. Section 25 caps the day at eight hours, section 26 requires a weekly holiday after six days, and section 31 requires a displayed notice of the periods of work. The Code counts "workers" and excludes persons employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity (s.2(1)(zzl)); a clinic manager may not count, the receptionist does.

Writing the clinic's leave policy

1. Start from your state Act's numbers and name the section in the policy. Where the OSH Code applies too, use the higher figure for each line.
2. Split the leave the way the Act does. Delhi's privilege leave and sick or casual leave are two separate buckets with different accrual and carry-forward; do not merge them into one "annual leave" figure below the sum.
3. Fix the weekly off per person. An OPD that runs six days can rotate the close day between the two receptionists only if the state Act allows a day other than the notified close day; Delhi's section 16(3) leaves the close day to the Government's notification.
4. List the three national holidays the state has notified and how the clinic will cover an emergency call on them with a substitute day off.
5. Write the application rule: how many days' notice for earned leave (Karnataka says ten), who approves, and that sick leave may be reported by phone the same morning.
6. Pay leave at the Act's rate and show it on the wage slip; do not deduct for the close day or a national holiday.
7. Keep the leave register the state rules prescribe, and give each employee a yearly balance in writing.

Leave is where a small clinic's good faith is tested in practice. The receptionist who has not had a day off since Holi because the second desk post is vacant is a labour-law breach, not a staffing inconvenience. Our post on minimum wages for clinic staff covers the other half of the same file: what the state says the same person must be paid.