Holidays

Cognizant observes 10 national and other festival holidays each year. The national holidays are fixed and will be observed every year,

Republic Day

Independence Day

May Day

Gandhi Jayanthi

Festival holidays are given for recognized religious festivals and could differ every year.

Vacation Leave

Vacation is provided to enable associates to take time off their busy schedules to rest, recuperate and revitalize. All associates who are in the confirmed services of the company can avail of their vacation. Trainees and probationers are not entitled to avail of any vacation during the period of their training or of probation, as applicable. Associates are entitled to avail a total of 12 working days of vacation per year. Vacation will be credited to the associate's leave account at the end of each month at the rate of 1 working day per month of continuous service with the Company. In the case of an associate joining the Company on or before the 15th of the month, the associate's vacation account will commence (with one day being credited to the account) on the last day of the month of his/her joining. In the case of an associate joining the Company later than 15th of the month, the associate's vacation account will commence (with one day being credited to the account) on the last day of the month following the month of his/her joining.

For associates' joining during the year, the vacation leave will be pro-rated.

On completion of 3 years of continuous service with the Company, associates will be entitled to 17 working days of vacation per year. This would mean that 1.5 days of leave would be added to the associate's leave account at the end of each month and one day in the month of January and December.

Vacation entitlement (a maximum of 12/17 days) can be carried forward for a period of one calendar year only. On 1st January every year, the vacation leave will be reset wherein the leave in the associate's account will be the leave accumulated by him / her in the previous year only.

Subject to preconditions mentioned above, the associate may avail vacation leave any time during the year but not more than 3 times in a year. The associate should forward the plan for his / her vacation to his / her Manager well in advance and obtain his / her approval, prior to the commencement of the vacation.

When an associate goes onsite, s/he will be entitled to 10 days vacation in a year, pro-rated for the period of stay there. During this period, no vacation will be credited to the associate in India. On the associate's return, the vacation will be regularized in accordance with the rules applicable to associates offshore.

In case the associate doesn't have sufficient leave balance and will have to go on Loss of Pay (LOP). S/he should seek an approval from his/her manager through mail and intimate his / her HR representative who will update the leave in the system and also advise for LOP. HR should be intimated by the associate on his / her return so that advise on LOP is discontinued.

Vacation Leave is not encashable (with the exception of all unutilized vacation that an associate has accrued up to December, 1997).

Sick Leave

Each associate is allowed up to 6 days of Sick Leave with pay in a span of 12-month period of service. This would mean that an associate accrues 0.5 days of sick leave into his / her account for every month put in. Sick leave can be accumulated up to 18 days. Any accumulation greater than 18 days lapses automatically. In case an associate is on sick leave for a period greater than 3 days, s/he will have to provide a Original Medical Certificate. The sick leave can be used in conjunction with his / her vacation leave to set-off his / her shortfall. However, the associate cannot use his/her Personal leave.

In case the associate falls ill and is unable to attend office, s/he should inform his / her manager at the earliest and apply for sick immediately on return. If it is a planned surgery and requires a long Sick Leave, the associate should apply for Sick Leave prior to proceeding on leave.

In case the associate has a medical problem, necessitating the use up all Sick Leave, the associate may, on approval from his / her Manager, use his / her vacation entitlement to set-off the shortfall. The associate must keep his / her Manager informed of the progress of his / her health.

All trainees and probationers are entitled to Sick Leave.

For the purpose of the company's records, the associate must give a copy of the Original Medical Certificate and Sick Leave application in case of long Sick Leave. The company may ask the associate to undergo a comprehensive check-up by the company specified doctors, to ensure that s/he is fit to join back.

Sick Leave is not encashable.

Personal Leave

There may be times when the associate is unable to attend office due to personal work, or situations requiring his / her presence at home. The associate is permitted to take upto 4 days of such `time-off' from work in a year. Personal Leave will include any leave taken to celebrate festivals of his / her faith, which have not been declared as a holiday by the Company. Trainees and probationers are not entitled to avail of any personal during the period of their training or of probation, as applicable

Personal leave cannot be taken in conjunction with vacation leave / sick leave. 4 days of Personal Leave will be in the Associate's account on 1st January of every year and if not availed this will elapse on 31 December of the same year.

Personal Leave cannot be accumulated or encashed.

Personal Leave cannot be combined with any other leave type.

Maternity Leave

Every woman associate shall be eligible for Maternity Leave as per "The Maternity Benefit Act 1961", provided she has been in the rolls of Cognizant for a period of not less than 80 days in the twelve months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery. The Maternity leave will be for a period of 6 weeks immediately following the day of delivery and 6 weeks preceding the date of expected delivery (inclusive of all intervening Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays).

To avail Maternity Leave, every associate will have to submit a leave application (via the Online Leave Application System - http://leave) at least 8 weeks prior to the commencement of leave. Also, the Original Medical Certificate issued by a doctor indicating the expected delivery date would have to be submitted to the HR team prior to availing any benefit in this regard.

In case an associate requires an extension of Maternity leave, the associate can apply for the maternity leave extension on the leave system & submit the Original Medical Certificate to the HR representative. The associate is eligible for the following leaves.

To utilise all available sick leave, vacation leave and personal leave balances.

To avail Extended Maternity leave for a period not exceeding one month (30 calendar days) in case of an illness arising out of pregnancy, and this leave would be approved based on production of the Original Medical Certificate to that effect from a certified medical practitioner.

And to Maternity LOP avail leave on loss of pay for a period not exceeding two months (or) 60 calendar days, in case of an illness arising out of pregnancy or any other related exigency, and this leave could be availed on production of the Original Medical Certificate from a certified medical practitioner to that effect.

The leave balances of the associates have to be availed, before opting for the Extended ML/ML LOP & this option is available only after exhausting the 84 days of maternity leave. In case of Miscarriage the associate will be entitled to an additional 6 weeks of leave immediately following the date of miscarriage, on production of a doctor certificate. As per the law, a miscarriage is defined as (under section 2 J), "expulsion of the contents of a pregnant uterus at any period prior to or during the twenty six week of pregnancy". And if the associate undergoes a tubectomy operation, she will be entitled for an additional 2 weeks of leave immediately following the date of her tubectomy operation, on production of a doctor certificate.

In case of unexpected death of the Associate during pregnancy, the associate will be eligible to claim the benefits extended as per the act till date of death, or in case, the associate leaves behind a surviving child, benefit can be availed till the date of death of the child or for the complete period as defined under the act, if the child survives.

Any woman associate who adopts an infant will also be entitled to 12 weeks leave as mentioned. She should submit proof of legal adoption along with the application for leave.

No associate will be allowed to work, 1 month before the expected delivery date and 6 weeks immediately following the date of delivery.

Compensatory Off

Compensatory Off means an off taken against extra work done. As such it has to be as a consequence of extra work done and not in advance. Compensatory-off should be applied for and be approved by the concerned Project Manager before it can be availed. The compensatory off has to be availed of within (and including) 122 calendar days of the day on which the associate has worked, and against which s/he avails of the benefit.

Compensatory off availed cannot exceed 5 days at any time.

Compensatory Off cannot be pre-fixed or suffixed with vacation or casual leave