Comp off validity rules: weekly off work, holidays and what happens when it expires on a holiday

A breakdown on Sunday, a dispatch that cannot wait, a maintenance shutdown on a festival: in a plant, people work on their days off all the time. The comp-off that follows is where things go wrong. Credits sit for months, expire unnoticed, or get paid twice as overtime and leave. Comp off validity rules are simple once you separate the two kinds of day: a lost weekly off, and work on a holiday.

Compensatory holiday under the OSH Code: the two-month window

The OSH Code, in force since 21 November 2025, carries over the old Factories Act rule on weekly holidays. Under section 26(2), a worker who is deprived of a weekly holiday must get compensatory holidays "within the month in which the holidays were due" or "within the two months immediately following that month".

So the comp-off for a lost weekly off has a hard outer date: the end of the second month after the month worked.

Note the logic: it is not "60 days from the day worked". Work on 1 October and on 31 October both run to 31 December.

Comp off on weekly off versus other comp-offs

Not every comp-off is a lost weekly off. Separate them in your policy:

• Lost weekly off (the person had no rest day that week because of work): the OSH Code window applies.
• Extra hours on a working day, converted to time off: a company policy. A validity of 60 to 90 days is common.
• Work on a national or festival holiday: state law decides, see below.

Section 27 of the Code still requires overtime at twice the ordinary rate for hours beyond the daily or weekly limits. A comp-off does not replace that. And for the same hours, it should be either overtime pay or a comp-off, never both.

Work on national holiday: double wages or a substitute day

National and festival holidays come from state laws. Karnataka's Act, for example, fixes ten paid holidays a year including 26 January, 1 May, 15 August, 2 October and 1 November. Tamil Nadu's Act has its own list.

These Acts usually give a worker who works on such a holiday a choice: double wages, or normal wages plus a substituted holiday. Tamil Nadu requires the substitute day within a few days, so check your state's text before you set a long validity for holiday comp-offs.

A sensible default is to let the employee choose between pay and a substitute day for holiday work, while a lost weekly off earns a comp-off under the two-month window.

A worked example from a forging unit

Gurpreet is a maintenance fitter at a forging unit in Ludhiana. His weekly off is Sunday.

• On Sunday 25 October a press breaks down and he works 8 hours. He had no other rest day that week. He gets a comp-off that must be given by 31 December.
• On 15 August, Independence Day, he worked a full shift. He chose double wages, so there is no comp-off for that day.
• In November he works 3 extra hours on four weekdays to finish a dispatch. Under the company's policy these are paid as overtime at twice the rate, because they go beyond the daily limit.

If Gurpreet is on a night shift that starts on Saturday evening and runs past midnight into Sunday, section 28 of the Code counts the hours after midnight as part of the previous day. So that shift belongs to Saturday, not to his Sunday off.

Comp off expiry when the last day is a holiday

This is the question that prompted this post. Gurpreet's colleague in the office worked Sunday 30 August. Her comp-off runs to 31 October 2026, which is a Saturday, her weekly off. Is the credit lost?

Strictly, the duty under section 26(2) is on the employer: to give the compensatory holiday within the window. The fact that the last calendar day is a weekly off does not change the window. So the first fix is process: remind the employee and her manager a couple of weeks before expiry, and plan the day.

Many companies also move the expiry to the next working day when the last day falls on a holiday or weekly off, here Monday 2 November. That is generous to the employee and avoids losing a credit on a technicality. Just remember it does not cure a missed window; it only helps the person.

Comp off validity rules people can trust

1. Require a punch. No comp-off without attendance on the day worked.
2. Classify the day: weekly off, holiday or extra hours. Each has its own rule.
3. One reward per hour: overtime or comp-off, never both.
4. Weekly off work: expiry at the end of the second month after the month worked.
5. Holiday work: employee's choice of double wages or a substitute day, per state law.
6. Other comp-offs: a company validity, for example 90 days.
7. Credit to the right year: a comp-off for December work belongs to December's leave year, even if approved in January.
8. Remind before expiry and decide how you treat an expiry on an off day.

Comp-offs interact with two other everyday rules: the sandwich leave rule, which decides how off days near leave are counted, and short leave for absences of an hour or two. If you are evaluating software for a plant, our HRMS for manufacturing checklist has the questions to ask.

In Vatsin's attendance and leave features, a comp-off for a lost weekly off expires at the end of the second month after the month worked, other comp-offs follow the company's validity, and an expiry that falls on a holiday or weekly off moves to the next working day unless the company keeps the old way.