Leave & Time-Off Policy

Purpose

Define Blinto's leave entitlements and the rules for how leave is counted, requested, approved, carried forward, and handled when an exception is needed.

For the operational steps to request leave, notify stakeholders, and hand over work, see Leave Request & Handover.

Leave at a Glance

Annual Leave note: Blinto presents 14 working days as the simple annual planning baseline for eligible employees. Where applicable Bangladesh law, an employment contract, or another approved benefit gives an employee a stronger earned-leave entitlement, the stronger entitlement applies. The statutory earned-leave calculation may therefore produce a balance higher than 14 days for an eligible employee.

How Leave Days Are Counted

Blinto uses working-day counting for Annual Leave, Casual Leave, Paternity Leave, Bereavement Leave, and Wedding Leave unless a specific entitlement is legally defined in calendar days.

This means:

• only the employee's scheduled working days are deducted from the relevant working-day leave balance;
• weekly holidays/weekends inside the leave period are not deducted as extra Annual or Casual Leave days;
• company-declared public holidays inside a planned leave period do not consume Annual or Casual Leave;
• Blinto does not use a sandwich-leave rule to convert intervening weekly holidays or public holidays into paid-leave deductions;
• maternity leave and any other entitlement expressly defined in calendar days follow their specific calendar-day rule.

Example: if an employee is away for 9 calendar days but only 5 of those days are scheduled working days, a working-day leave category deducts 5 leave days, not 9.

Calendar Year & Employee Leave View

The leave year runs from January 1 to December 31 unless a stronger statutory, contractual, or approved benefit requires different treatment.

For readability, the employee-facing HRMS should show the information employees need first:

The HRMS may keep technical accrual, statutory, and reconciliation calculations in the background or in an expanded detail view. Employees should not need to calculate 1 day per 18 qualifying days worked themselves merely to understand their usable leave balance.

New joiners, first-year employees, partial-year employees, and employees whose legal/contractual eligibility differs from the standard configuration should see their actual applicable HRMS balance, not an assumed full-year balance.

Core Principle

Leave within an employee's applicable entitlement is a right, not a discretionary favor from management. All Casual Leave (CL) and Annual Leave (AL/EL) requests require an HR decision before approval; the HRMS must not auto-approve these categories. HR must assess eligibility, balance, notice, team availability, and operational needs promptly, fairly, and consistently. Team coverage rules and planning expectations must not be used to extinguish statutory or stronger contractual rights.

Other leave categories retain their existing category-specific approval or notification processes unless separately revised. No Blinto policy may reduce a stronger entitlement under applicable Bangladesh law, an employment contract, or another formally approved company benefit.

Leave Distribution & Monthly Casual Leave Planning

Employees should plan and distribute their CL and AL throughout the calendar year rather than unnecessarily postponing leave until year-end. People Operations and Team Leads should remind employees of their available balances and support forward planning. This encouragement does not forfeit, reduce, or override eligible earned Annual Leave or its statutory carry-forward.

• CL annual allocation: 10 paid working days, subject to individual eligibility and stronger applicable rights.
• AL planning baseline: 14 paid working days for eligible employees, with any higher statutory/contractual entitlement preserved.
• CL monthly request allowance: Employees may normally request up to 2 CL working days per calendar month, including half-days counted in 0.5-day units. For example, one full day plus two half-days exhausts the monthly allowance.
• The HRMS must check both the remaining annual CL balance and the monthly CL amount already used or approved/booked. It must not permit a normal CL request that exceeds either balance; it must not count cancelled or rejected requests as leave used. Pending requests should reserve capacity provisionally to prevent overlapping allocations, with the final ledger reconciled on decision.
• Monthly CL capacity resets on the first day of each calendar month, without increasing the annual 10-day entitlement and without rolling forward unused monthly capacity. Annual balances remain subject to their separate leave-year rules.
• Requests spanning two calendar months must be validated against each month's CL allowance. The normal existing consecutive-day CL limit also applies.
• Requests outside the normal monthly limit must be directed to People Operations for lawful entitlement/exception review rather than silently forfeited or misclassified. A valid statutory or contractual entitlement is not overridden by the monthly scheduling rule.
• Employees may request eligible AL according to their needs, with HR approval and the applicable notice, duration, and handover procedures.

Team-Based Leave Scheduling

To support continuity of service, the HRMS must map employees to their current team/department and track pending and approved CL/AL requests by date. The standard capacity guideline is one employee per team on approved planned leave on the same working day, except where HR documents an authorized operational exception or a stronger legal/contractual right requires appropriate accommodation.

When an employee selects a date on which another member of the same team has approved planned leave, the HRMS must show this message:

One of your team members is already on leave on your selected date. Please coordinate with your team before submitting your request.

The HRMS should also flag overlapping pending requests for coordination and HR visibility. Team members should discuss overlapping plans and appropriate cover with their Team Lead. Requests may be submitted for HR review even where a conflict is flagged; a warning is not itself a rejection or cancellation.

HR must review requests one at a time against remaining balance, team coordination, coverage, operational needs, and applicable rights. HR alone records the final CL/AL approval or rejection. Conflicting requests must not be approved simultaneously under the standard rule unless an HR-authorized exception is recorded. Decisions must be documented and communicated to the applicant. Emergency, sickness, and other protected/exceptional absences must not be treated as ordinary discretionary planned-leave conflicts.

Half-day requests should specify the relevant half-day period. The HRMS must calculate overlap and coverage for those periods, not assume that non-overlapping half-days are simultaneous full-day absences.

HR Approval for CL and AL

The HRMS workflow for all CL/AL requests is:

1. The employee submits the leave category, date(s), duration (including half-days), and relevant coverage information in HRMS.
2. HRMS validates eligibility and the available leave balance, plus the monthly CL limit where relevant.
3. HRMS checks the same-team pending and approved leave calendar and displays conflict warnings.
4. Where overlap exists, the employee coordinates with teammates and the Team Lead on coverage and dates.
5. The request remains PENDING HR APPROVAL until HR assesses balance, team coverage, applicable notice and duration limits, and employee entitlements.
6. HR approves or rejects with a recorded reason, or returns the request for clarification; authorized exceptions must be documented.
7. HRMS notifies the employee and relevant Team Lead, updates the team calendar and attendance status, and deducts the appropriate balance upon approval. Rejected/cancelled requests must not consume leave.

Only authorized HR/People Operations reviewers may record the final decision. Team Leads advise on coverage but do not independently approve CL/AL.

Leave Types & Detailed Rules

Annual Leave (EL / Earned Leave)

For employee-facing planning, Blinto uses 14 working days per calendar year as the normal Annual Leave baseline for an eligible regular employee.

Annual Leave is intended for planned rest, vacation, travel, and longer personal time away.

Where the Bangladesh statutory earned-leave rule applies, an eligible adult employee who has completed the applicable continuous-service requirement earns paid leave at 1 day for every 18 qualifying days worked. That statutory calculation, contractual terms, or another approved benefit may result in an entitlement greater than Blinto's 14-day planning baseline. In that case, the higher entitlement controls.

The 14-day planning baseline therefore simplifies the employee experience; it does not operate as a legal ceiling that can reduce a stronger earned balance.

Advance Planning Against Annual Leave

An eligible employee does not need to wait until every planned Annual Leave day has technically accrued before scheduling meaningful time off.

Where the employee is reasonably expected to remain eligible through the calendar year, the HRMS may allow planned use against the employee's projected annual entitlement, subject to the normal balance, notice, duration, and business-continuity rules.

The employee-facing view should remain simple. Where needed, People Operations may maintain a more detailed ledger containing:

• statutory/accrued EL to date;
• projected Annual Leave entitlement;
• carried-forward EL;
• Annual Leave already used/booked;
• any advance Annual Leave reconciliation requirement.

If employment ends or eligibility materially changes before an advance balance has been fully earned, People Operations must reconcile the balance only to the extent permitted by applicable law, employment terms, and valid company process. This policy does not authorize an unlawful salary deduction or forfeiture of a stronger entitlement.

Annual Leave Carry-Forward

Unused statutory earned leave must be carried forward and accumulated where applicable Bangladesh law requires it.

The HRMS should:

• preserve eligible carried-forward balances;
• consume the oldest eligible Annual Leave first;
• apply the statutory accumulation ceiling applicable to the employee/establishment;
• preserve any stronger contractual or approved company benefit.

People Operations and Team Leads should proactively support employees in taking accumulated leave rather than allowing avoidable balances to build indefinitely.

Casual Leave (CL)

• 10 paid working days per calendar year.
• Intended for personal matters, short breaks, and ordinary short-term personal needs.
• May be taken as a half day where applicable.
• Maximum 3 consecutive working days under the Casual Leave category remains a category boundary, but the normal monthly request allowance is 2 working days, so a 3-day CL request requires an HR exception/entitlement review.
• Does not carry forward into the next calendar year.

Sick Leave (SL)

• 14 paid days per calendar year.
• Intended for illness, medical need, or health emergency.
• Does not carry forward into the next calendar year.
• Sick Leave is notification-based; an employee should not wait for ordinary advance approval before responding to a genuine health need.
• Blinto normally does not require medical evidence for 1–2 consecutive sick days.
• For 3 or more consecutive sick days, People Operations may require reasonable medical evidence/documentation. Where applicable law requires medical certification, People Operations may request the documentation needed for compliance.

Maternity Leave

Eligible employees receive maternity leave according to applicable Bangladesh statutory entitlement and eligibility rules. Blinto's current baseline is up to 120 paid calendar days where legally/contractually applicable.

Where timing is reasonably foreseeable, the employee should provide the required information/documentation at least 30 calendar days before the expected leave start. Genuine medical or childbirth-related timing changes do not remove the underlying entitlement.

Paternity Leave

Blinto provides 7 paid working days of paternity leave as a company benefit for eligible employees.

Where reasonably foreseeable, submit at least 7 calendar days before the expected start. Unforeseen childbirth timing or emergency circumstances should be handled through notification rather than penalized for insufficient notice.

Bereavement Leave

Blinto provides 3 paid working days for a qualifying immediate-family bereavement. The employee should notify the Team Lead/People Operations as soon as reasonably possible.

Wedding Leave

Blinto provides 3 paid working days for the employee's own wedding. Submit at least 21 calendar days before the leave start for auto-approval.

Public Holidays

Public holidays are governed by Blinto's official annual holiday calendar and do not consume CL, SL, or Annual Leave balances except where applicable law specifically requires different treatment for a particular leave period.

Unpaid Leave

Unpaid Leave is an exception rather than an automatic entitlement under this company policy. It requires manual review/approval, including when an employee requests time away beyond an available paid-leave balance.

Planned Leave Duration and Notice Rules

Blinto handles longer planned absences through stronger planning and review, not by counting weekends or public holidays as additional Annual Leave. Existing advance-notice guidance continues to apply: normally 21 calendar days for AL, 3 working days for one day or half-day CL, and 10 calendar days for 2–3 consecutive CL days when foreseeable. Meeting notice rules does not constitute automatic CL/AL approval.

An extended absence may combine available paid leave with approved Unpaid Leave or another applicable entitlement. Approval of an extended absence does not increase the employee's paid-leave balance.

HRMS Outcomes

1. Pending HR Approval — All CL and AL

The HRMS must not auto-approve CL or AL. An eligible request enters PENDING HR APPROVAL after validations and any conflict warning. The Team Lead may supply coverage advice. HR alone records approval/rejection or requests clarification. Decisions, reasons, exceptions, and notifications are retained in the audit trail.

2. Approved / Rejected — CL and AL

On HR approval, the HRMS updates the employee's leave balance, attendance record, and team calendar, and notifies the employee and relevant stakeholders. On rejection, it provides the reason and does not deduct leave. Cancellation or changes require recalculation and, where materially changed, fresh HR review. No Team Lead may unilaterally cancel an HR-approved leave.

3. Other Leave Categories and Manual Exceptions

Sick, maternity, paternity, bereavement, wedding, and other categories continue under their existing statutory, notification, evidence, and exception rules. Do not impose the ordinary CL/AL team cap on protected or genuine emergency leave. Unpaid leave requires manual approval.

4. Not Requestable Under the Normal CL/AL Route

The HRMS should show an explanation and direct the employee to HR for review or a valid alternative when a normal request lacks the eligible balance, exceeds the two-day monthly CL limit, exceeds the CL consecutive-day boundary, or has a category mismatch. It must not silently erase an entitlement or prevent an employee from raising an exception or statutory-rights issue.

Manual Approval Ownership

For CL and AL: People Operations/HR is the mandatory final approver. The Team Lead provides capacity and handover input, not a separate final approval. CEO involvement is reserved for material company-level exceptions and does not replace HR's review.

For other leave categories, retain the relevant existing category-specific process. Where a statutory, contractual, or protected entitlement applies, HR must ensure it is honored.

Leave Planning & Handover

Employees should use planned leave responsibly and provide the required notice whenever the need is foreseeable.

Team Leads are responsible for capacity planning, backup coverage, and reducing single-person dependency so legitimate leave does not become a recurring delivery crisis.

For extended leave, the handover should be proportionate to the length and operational impact of the absence. Follow Leave Request & Handover.

Probationary Employees, New Joiners & Interns

Probationary status does not by itself reduce a statutory leave entitlement that applies to an employee.

People Operations must apply CL, SL, Annual/EL eligibility, accrual, and any proportional treatment according to applicable Bangladesh law, the individual's employment status and contract, and any stronger approved Blinto benefit.

Intern leave treatment must similarly follow the applicable legal classification, internship terms, and approved Blinto benefit. The HRMS must not impose a blanket rule that reduces a statutory or contractual entitlement.

Related Resources

• Leave Request & Handover
• Attendance Policy
• Office Hours Policy