Air India has updated their retirement privilege leave policy for employees

Regarding the accumulation of privilege leaves for employees who would be retiring within the current and succeeding fiscal years, Air India recently updated its policy. The airline, which is a part of the Tata group, first modified its privilege leave policy in March to better reflect the state of the market.

All employees were only permitted to accumulate 60 days of privilege leaves in a single fiscal year starting on April 1 in accordance with the updated policy. However, Campbell Wilson, CEO and managing director of Air India, proposed a relaxation for those who have expressed worries about approaching retirement.

He noted that the airline had previously resolved that any privilege leaves lasting longer than 60 days would be forfeited in a mail to the employees. However, after speaking with external tax authorities, Air India was able to come to an arrangement to postpone the redemption of luxury leaves for individuals who will be retiring in the following two fiscal years (FY 2023–24 and 2024–25) for more than 60 days.

Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, they were unable to ensure the same ability for employees retiring beyond this time.

Employees who are close to reaching superannuation can benefit from this decision because it will give them better retirement benefits. With the relaxation, eligible staff members can now take advantage of the tax exemption on leave encashments up to Rs 25 lakh during retirement. In the meanwhile, Air India is actively implementing its “Vihaan.AI” five-year transformation strategy.

Campbell Wilson and other members of the management and Vihaan project teams will be visiting various cities around the nation in the upcoming months to interact with employees in person.