A weekly off should not become a leave just because you took Friday or Monday off.

We, the undersigned, call upon the Ministry of Labour & Employment and relevant authorities to prohibit the practice commonly known as the “Sandwich Leave Policy” across workplaces in India.

Under a sandwich leave policy, if an employee takes leave immediately before and after a weekly off or public holiday, the intervening non-working days may also be counted as leave.

For example:

An employee takes Friday and Monday off.

Saturday and Sunday are already designated weekly offs.

Yet, under a sandwich leave policy, the employee may be charged four days of leave instead of two.

We believe this practice is unfair.

A weekly off is a weekly off.

Employees earn their weekly rest days regardless of whether they take legitimate leave immediately before or after them.

A Sunday does not suddenly become an additional day of absence simply because an employee was on approved leave on Saturday and Monday.

The same principle should apply to declared public holidays and other scheduled non-working days.

Leave policies should encourage rest, not penalise it.

Employees may take leave for countless legitimate reasons—family responsibilities, travel, personal commitments, emergencies, important life events or simply to take a break from work.

Penalising employees for combining earned leave with scheduled days off discourages people from taking meaningful breaks and unnecessarily reduces their accumulated leave balance.

The rule should be simple.

"If an employee was not required to work on a particular day, that day should not be deducted from their leave balance merely because it falls between two approved leave days."

We therefore request the Government of India and relevant labour authorities to establish clear rules preventing employers from counting scheduled weekly offs and declared public holidays as employee leave solely because they fall between periods of approved leave.

This is not a demand for unlimited leave.

It is a demand for a fair distinction between:

Days an employee was supposed to work but took leave

and

Days an employee was never supposed to work in the first place.

We urge employees, employers, HR professionals, founders and citizens across India who believe in fair and transparent workplace policies to support this petition.

Sign the petition.

Let's end the Sandwich Leave Policy in India.