Govt reverses order, allows employees to encash earned leave

Bengaluru: In a huge relief to the State government employees, the Yediyurappa government has withdrawn its earlier order cancelling the provision for encashment of their earned leave (EL) in the 2021 calendar year keeping in view the strained finances triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The encashment of earned leave was cancelled when the Government of India froze dearness allowance hikes last year.

Now it has been restored and all eligible officials/workers can, by providing a notice a month in advance, encash earned leave in any month of their choice between January and December 2021," said a senior official form Finance Department requesting anonymity.

According to the reports, the Finance Department has issued a fresh order reinstating the provision for employees to encash up to 15 days of earned leaves, a facility that has been in place since January 2013. It is learnt that the restoration was done after the government faced a backlash from employees.

In a recent order dated January 4, by the Under Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), stated that a government servant may surrender EL not exceeding 15 days out of the leave in his credit and receive cash equivalent as salary. But as the State government is facing a financial crisis, it is not able to pay EL equivalent to the employees. The facility will be cancelled for this year, starting from January to December 2021, it stated.

However, the previous order was not applicable to employees retiring this year. Now the fresh order restoring encashment of earned leaves will also apply to employees working in government undertakings, aided or unaided, based on the financial situation.

For gazetted officers, the government will rely on its human resource management system to approve encashment by calculating the earned leaves that are available, the order stated.