Casual leave and sick leave, kept apart
Short unplanned absence and genuine illness are different things with different rules — and merging them in practice makes your absence data useless.
What they are
CL covers short personal absence; SL covers illness, usually with a certificate beyond a threshold.
Typical entitlement
A common SMB pattern is 8 CL and 8 SL a year, credited quarterly. State rules vary.
The trap
Letting the two be interchangeable. If everything is CL, you cannot see a sickness pattern or plan cover.
Casual leave covers short, unplanned personal absence; sick leave covers illness and often requires a medical certificate beyond a threshold. Both are usually credited annually or quarterly, are rarely encashable, and typically do not carry forward — though state rules and company policy vary.
How it works in practice
A common Indian SMB pattern is 8 CL and 8 SL a year, credited quarterly, with a certificate required for sickness beyond two consecutive days.
What to watch for
Letting CL and SL be interchangeable in practice makes absence data useless for planning.
How Klok handles it
Klok keeps each leave type as its own balance with its own rules, so the register tells you what actually happened.
Casual leave and sick leave FAQs
Can casual leave be carried forward?
Usually not — CL is generally use-it-or-lose-it within the year, unlike earned leave. Your state's shops and establishments rules and your own policy govern this, and the policy must say so in writing.
Can we insist on a medical certificate?
Yes, beyond a stated threshold — two consecutive days is the common trigger. State it in the policy rather than applying it case by case, which is where allegations of unfair treatment start.
What if someone exhausts both?
Further absence becomes loss of pay unless another balance is available. That should be visible to the employee before they apply, not discovered on the payslip.
Can casual and sick leave be combined?
Policies often prevent it, and where they do, the rule needs to be in the policy rather than applied at the approver's discretion. Inconsistent refusal is what turns a small thing into a grievance.
Do these lapse at year end?
Commonly yes, unlike earned leave — which is exactly why employees rush to use them in December. If they lapse, say so clearly at the start of the year, not when the balance is refused.
Can we ask for a medical certificate?
Beyond a stated number of days, generally yes, if the policy says so. Demanding one for a single day when the policy does not require it is the kind of inconsistency that gets noticed.
Stop calculating this by hand
Klok computes it from your own attendance and salary data, every month, with the working shown.