Sandwich leave rule for weekends and holidays

How it works

1. HR opens Settings, Policies, Leave rules and chooses how weekends and holidays inside a leave count for each leave type, with a live example strip showing charged and free days.
2. For the two sandwich modes, HR sets the minimum working days a spell must contain before rest days are charged. Below that number the rest days stay free.
3. HR also decides whether holidays are treated like weekends or never counted, even when they sit inside the leave.
4. When an employee picks dates, ZeniaHR reads that person's roster for weekly offs and the holiday calendar for their branch and department, then marks every date as charged or free.
5. The preview lists each charged date with a tag such as sandwich, weekly off or holiday, plus the total that will come off the balance.
6. Each request stores its exact charged dates, so the leave calendar, attendance and payroll all read the same days.

What you can set

• Every day picked: all dates in the request count, rest days included. A leave type behaves this way until you choose another mode.
• Never counted: weekly offs and holidays inside the leave are always free.
• Counted when leave is on both sides: a rest day counts only when a working leave day sits before and after it in the same request.
• Counted when leave touches them on either side: rest days next to the leave count too, even outside the picked dates.
• Minimum working days for the sandwich rule, used by the two modes above. The recommended value for CL and EL is 2.
• Holidays treated like weekends, or never counted.
• Use recommended leave rules: CL, EL and PL count sandwiched rest days when leave is on both sides; SL, LWP, LOP and CO never count them.

Why the sandwich rule needs a clear setting

Few leave questions cause more arguments than a long weekend. An employee takes Friday and Monday off and expects to lose two days; the attendance clerk charges four because that is how the muster was always done. When the rule lives in a supervisor's head, each branch applies it differently and every dispute lands on HR. Setting it per leave type in the system means the same dates cost the same days for everyone, and the employee sees the cost before applying rather than on the payslip. Write the rule into your leave policy or standing orders so it is known in advance.

Worked example: the Gandhi Jayanti weekend

Aditi works as a software tester in Pune with Saturday and Sunday off. Friday 2 October 2026 is Gandhi Jayanti, a company holiday. She applies for casual leave from Thursday 1 October to Monday 5 October. The spell holds 5 calendar days but only 2 working days, Thursday and Monday. Here is what each setting charges her.

Suppose instead she had applied for Monday 5 October alone. Under the touch mode with no minimum and holidays treated like weekends, Friday, Saturday and Sunday touch the leave, so it costs 4 days. With the minimum set to 2 working days, a one-day spell falls below it and costs 1 day. Under the both-sides mode it also costs 1 day, because the weekend has leave on one side only.

• Every day picked: 5 days charged.
• Never counted: 2 days charged, Thursday and Monday.
• Leave on both sides, minimum 2 working days, holidays like weekends: 5 days charged.
• Same setting with holidays never counted: 4 days charged, because Friday stays free while Saturday and Sunday count.

Choosing a rule your staff will accept

Start with the recommended rules and change only what your policy truly needs. Keep sick leave free of the sandwich rule, since nobody plans a fever around a weekend. Use the minimum working days so that a single day off next to a weekend is not charged three days. Check the example strip in Leave rules before saving, then tell employees the rule in plain words, for example: a weekend between two leave days in the same request counts as leave. Publish it with your other HR policies so managers answer the question the same way.

Frequently asked questions