1. Purpose
The World Scout Bureau (WSB) recognizes the engagement and the efforts of its staff members and encourages staff well-being and work-life balance. Different types of leave are granted to staff members with the good intention of providing rest, recuperation of health and for fulfilling social obligations.
This policy provides framework to the various types of leave that can be taken by eligible staff members. It provides staff members with guidance on how requests for leave are to be submitted, considered and approved/rejected and information on eligibility for the various forms of paid and unpaid leave open to employees.
2. Applicability
This policy applies to all full time permanent staff members worldwide employed by the World Scout Bureau and its affiliated regional offices (commonly known as Regions or WSB Support Centres). For staff members working on less than 100% time, the number of eligible days will be pro-rated accordingly.
3. Preamble
This policy follows and enforces the local statutory provisions as a minimum according to the legal registration status in the country where the position is based and the employment contract whichever is more beneficial to the staff member.
If any provision of this policy is held illegal or unenforceable in any of the offices, such provision shall be severed and shall be inoperative, and all other remaining provisions of this policy shall remain in full effect and be enforceable.
4. Introduction
- In this policy, all leaves’ year follow WOSM’s financial year from 1st of October to 30th of
- Eligible leaves are credited to the staff members on the 1st of October every
- Staff members who are appointed during the course of the year shall be entitled to leaves on pro-rate basis. Number of days of a month are calculated to the nearest 0.5 fraction
- All type of leaves must be submitted and approved via the online HR management
- At the end of each WOSM’s financial year, each staff member must print out her/his leave record, sign it and submit to HR responsible to be filled in her/his Personnel file.
5. Weekend and Public holidays
Staff members are entitled for two off days/week (weekend) in accordance with the local statutory provisions in each of the World Scout Bureau Support Centres.
Staff members shall be entitled to paid holidays according to the agreed Public Holidays applicable to each of the WSB Support Centers. It is recommended that the number of public holidays at each of the Support Centres should not exceed 12 days in each calendar year, when permissible. All holidays declared by government gazette or proclamation shall be observed.
When a public holiday falls on a non-working day, the preceding or following working day which is closest to the holiday should be observed as an official holiday.
6. Types of Leave
6.1. Annual leave
- Staff members are entitled to paid annual vacation days to be taken at time agreed with their Line Managers. The total number of entitled days follow the local statutory provisions in the country where the position in based with a minimum of 20 days and a maximum of 30 days per annum. Refer to annex I of this policy for the total numbers of annual leave in each of the WSB Support Centres.
- If the period of employment during any calendar year is less than one year, the annual leave days will be calculated on a pro-rata basis. Annual leave entitlement for an incomplete year of service shall be apportioned as follows:
Number of months worked x vacation leave entitlement
____________________________________________________
12 months
- Staff members submit their request for annual leave via the Human Resources Management System (e-leave) and following the online approval of the line manager, may proceed to take the annual leave accordingly. Staff members may be asked to adjust the dates of their annual leave due to business needs.
- Ample prior notice to be given to the line manager is Generally, this should be:
- At least 2 weeks for longer leave of 5 working days or more
- At least 1 week for shorter leave of less than 5 working days, unless it is an emergency.
- Leave may be taken only when authorized by their Line Managers. If staff members are absent from work without authorization, salary will not be paid for the period of unauthorized However, if, in the opinion of their Line Managers, the absence was caused by reasons beyond the staff member’s control and the staff member has accrued annual leave, the absence will be charged to that leave.
- Staff members are encouraged to take their annual leave in Annual leave shall, as far as is practicable, be exercised within the year the leave is assigned. Transfer of unutilized vacation leave days to the following year is permissible. The carry forward leave is limited to maximum 5 days if permissible by law. The carry forward days must be utilized by 31st of December of any year. Any unutilized annual leave beyond the above mentioned limits shall be forfeited unless otherwise approved by line manage for a maximum of 10 days.
Commutation of accrued annual leave
If upon termination of employment relationship, the staff member's attention is drawn to his/her duty to take his/her vacation in kind during the notice period. Any annual leave not taken by the end of the employment relationship will only be paid in cash as a last resort.
6.2. Home leave
Internationally recruited staff members, who are residing and serving outside their home country and who are contractually eligible shall be entitled once in every 12 months of qualifying service to visit their home country at the WSB expense for the purpose of spending in that country a reasonable period of annual leave.
A staff member’s home leave shall fall due upon completion of 12 months of qualifying service.
The place of home leave of the staff member shall be his or her home country for purposes of travel and transportation entitlements.
If both spouses are staff members serving in the same location, who are eligible for home leave, each staff member shall have the choice either of exercising his or her own home leave entitlement or of accompanying the spouse in a given year. Dependent children whose parents are staff members, each of whom is entitled to home leave, may accompany either parent. The frequency of travel shall not exceed the established periodicity of the home leave both with regard to staff members and to their dependent children, if any.
Un-utilized home leave entitlements cannot be carried forward to the following financial year.
Eligible staff members must prepare a travel request for home leave to be approved by the respective SMT member in Regional Support Centres. By Global Directors and Director of Human Resources and Administration for staff members in the Global Support Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and by the Secretary General for SMT members.
6.3. Compensation leave
Compensation leave is an authorized time off in lieu of working during weekends and/or public holidays that does not impact a staff member's annual leave. Compensation must be in an equal amount of time worked on weekends and/or public holidays.
(Example: working 4 hours on 2 weekend days will be compensated with one full day. Working 4 hours on one day of weekend will be compensated with half day off.)
- A staff member who is required to work during weekends shall be given compensatory time off, subject to the prior approval of the Line Managers. Official travels taken on weekends as well as time worked on public holidays are also considered for compensation leave.
- Line Managers are responsible for identifying and approving any working hours during weekends when required by exigencies of Managers must ensure that staff are granted compensation leave.
- With similar provision for application, staff members submit their request for compensation leave, with reasonable time ahead, via the Human Resources Management System (e-leave) and following the online approval of the Line Manager, may proceed to take the compensation leave accordingly.
- The principle of compensation leave is for the staff to get timely rest and The compensation leaves must be utilized within the following 2 months at most.
- Compensation leaves cannot be carried forward to the following year and cannot be accrued for cash Only compensation leaves accrued during the month of August and September will be forfeited by end of November of the subsequent year.
6.4. Marriage Leave
Newlywed staff members who have been confirmed in employment are entitled to 3 working days marriage leave on occasion of their marriage. Marriage leave shall be consumed within 14 days prior to or after marriage.
6.5. Parenthood leave
- Staff members shall be entitled to paid Parenthood leave following the local statutory provisions in accordance with the following provisions:
- Mothers are entitled to a parenthood leave according to local statutory provisions not less than 12 weeks.
- A pre-delivery leave no earlier than four weeks prior to the anticipated date of birth upon production of a certificate from a duly qualified medical practitioner or midwife indicating the anticipated date of birth.
- The post-delivery leave shall extend for a period equivalent to the difference between the total eligible maternity leave and the actual period of pre-delivery leave.
- Fathers shall be granted a parenthood leave for each occasion of the birth of their child for a total period of up to 14 working days in accordance with the following provisions:
- the case of internationally recruited staff members whose spouse is not located in the same serving duty station, or in exceptional circumstances as determined by the Line Managers leave shall be granted for a total period of up to 20 working days.
- The leave may be taken either continuously or in separate periods during the year following the birth of the child, provided that it is completed during that year and within the duration of the contract.
- Mothers are entitled to a parenthood leave according to local statutory provisions not less than 12 weeks.
- Staff member shall receive Parenthood leave with full pay for the entire duration of entitled leave.
- Parenthood leaves are consecutive and includes weekends/any gazette public holidays which falls during the period of the leave.
- Staff members are allowed to request for extra 4 weeks maximum of unpaid parenthood leave over the entitlement subject to the approval of the SMT member.
6.6. Sick leave
Staff members who are unable to perform their duties by reason of illness or injury or whose attendance at work is prevented by health requirements will be granted sick leave. The total number of sick leave days must be approved by Line Managers:
- A staff member shall be granted sick leave on full salary as stipulated in the local statutory provisions in each location of the World Scout Bureau Support Centres or up to 21 working days in an annual cycle starting 1 October of any year, when incapacitated for the performance of his or her duties by illness or injury.
- Staff members shall inform their Line Managers and the Human Resource as soon as possible of absences due to illness or When sickness of more than two working days in any seven-day period occurs, a medical certificate is required. Staff members shall promptly submit any medical certificate or medical report required.
- When sickness of more than five days while a staff member is on annual leave, including home leave, sick leave may be approved subject to appropriate medical certification.
6.7. Hospitalization Leave
Staff members are entitled to hospitalization leave following admission in hospital and is applicable for days admitted in hospital only.
Any leave days prescribed by medical doctor or specialist post hospitalization days shall be utilized from the sick leave entitlement. If insufficient, sick leave shall be utilized from the vacation leave entitlement.
The total hospitalization leave entitlement is 60 consecutive days inclusive of 21 days sick leave.
6.8. Prolonged Illness Leave
For any prolonged or chronic illness diagnosed by a registered medical doctor or specialist, or if recuperating from an accident injury, staff members must apply for prolonged illness leave up to a maximum 12 months when all 60 days hospitalization and sick leave have been fully used up. The prolonged illness leave must be approved by the Secretary General.
Examples of chronic illness may include, and not limited to, cancer, leukemia, heart attack, stroke or other illness of a prolonged nature.
The medical leave for prolonged illness, if approved, will be granted as follows:
| Duration | Salary Payment |
| 1st to 4th month | Salary Payment |
| 5th to 8th month* | Half paid salary |
| 9th to 12th month* | No pay |
| 12th month | SMT member and SecGen will decide on the status |
*staff members may refer to the terms of their local health insurance in case of prolonged illness
Upon full recovery within the 12 months’ period, the staff member shall resume duties upon obtaining a certificate of fitness from the registered medical practitioner.
In the event, the staff member who resumes duty suffers a relapse, confirmed by a medical practitioner, within 3 months from the time such staff member resumes duty, then the relapse shall not be treated as a new case, but as a continuation of the previous case. Consequently, the prolonged illness leave that has already been utilized in the first instance by the staff member shall be set off against the prolonged illness leave entitlement and the staff member shall only be granted the balance of the unutilized leave.
If the staff member is still unfit at the end of the 12 months’ prolonged illness leave period, the staff member may be ‘medically boarded out’ upon certification from a registered medical practitioner.
Staff members shall not be eligible for the above leave in the following circumstances:
- Imprisonment
- Illness, injury or disablement arising from participation in any hazardous sports and/or hobby, attempted suicide, the performance of any unlawful act, exposure to any unjustifiable hazards, use of drugs not medically prescribed, excess use of alcohol or any breach of peace or disorder conduct
6.9. Compassionate Leave
Staff members are granted paid 3 working days as compassionate leave for attending to emergencies of an immediate family member.
Immediate family member refers to the staff member’s spouse, common in law, children, parents, siblings, parents-in-law and grandparents.
Compassionate leave maybe used for the passing, critical illness of immediate family members resulting in hospital admission, or other reasons as approved by the Line Manager.
6.10. Training / Examination Leave
Training days and examination leave may be granted by Line Managers for training courses or examination that is part of the course curriculum for courses sponsored or not sponsored by the World Scout Bureau.
Staff members must inform and obtain the Line Manager’s approval prior to taking such leave.
Additional days for study purposes will not be granted and had to be taken as part of the staff member’s annual leave.
7. Half Day Leave
Half day leave is permitted (AM or PM leave) and shall be taken out from the staff member’s annual leave entitlement unless otherwise approved by Line Manager as a compensation leave.
With similar provision for application, staff members must submit their request for the half day leave, with reasonable time ahead, via the Human Resources Management System (e-leave) and following the online approval of the Line Manager, may proceed to take the leave accordingly.
8. Working from Home
The World Scout Bureau encourages flexibility. Staff members are allowed to occasionally work from home subject to Line Manager’s approval.
9. Volunteering days
To encourage the volunteering spirit of our Scout Movement, staff members are allowed 5 volunteering days per annum (added to leave) for staff members to volunteer, usually in Scouting, but not exclusively so.
Annex I - Summary of Leave
|
Public holidays |
|
|
Annual / Vacation Leave |
The total number of entitled days follow the local statutory provisions in accordance to the legal registration status in in the country where the position in based and/or the employment contract whichever is better. Local statutory Provisions:
|
|
Compensation Leave |
|
|
Marriage Leave |
|
|
Parenthood Leave |
|
| Sick Leave |
Follow the local statutory provisions and not less than 21 days for all staff members regardless of tenure in the organization. |
| Hospitalization Leave |
60 consecutive days inclusive of 21 days sick leave. |
| Prolonged Illness Leave |
Total 12 months
|
| Compassionate Leave |
3 working days |
| Training / Examination Leave |
To be agreed and approved by Line Manager. |
| Category: | Human Resources |
| Edition Number: | 1 |
| Approved by: | Senior Management Team |
| Approval date: | 30 September 2018 |
| Effective date: | 1 October 2018 |
| Last reviewed date: | |
| Next review date: | Annual review / when and if necessary, if earlier |
| Policy sponsor: | Director, Human Resources & Admin |
| Policy administrator: | HR & Admin responsibles in all WSB support centres |