Glossary
Leave Without Pay vs LOP
Also known as: LWP vs LOP
Leave Without Pay (LWP) is approved leave that the employee takes when they have no paid leave balance, so the day is unpaid but authorised. Loss of Pay (LOP) is the resulting salary deduction for any unpaid day, whether authorised or not. In practice LWP is the leave type and LOP is the payroll effect, and many organisations use the terms loosely.
The distinction matters because intent and approval differ. LWP is planned and sanctioned in advance, for example extended personal leave once paid leave runs out, whereas LOP can also arise from unapproved absence or unexplained gaps in attendance.
Both result in an unpaid day and a corresponding deduction, which is why they are often conflated. The important governance point is whether the absence was approved: authorised LWP protects the employment relationship, while repeated unapproved LOP days can trigger disciplinary consequences.
Because these directly reduce salary, accuracy and consent are essential. Employees should be able to see their leave balances and the unpaid days being applied, and to correct genuine attendance errors before payroll is finalised.
India context
Unpaid-leave deductions must respect the wage-deduction limits and principles recognised under the Code on Wages, 2019, and should never operate as a disguised penalty. Leave entitlements themselves derive from applicable Shops and Establishments Acts and company policy.
How Workclave handles this
Workclave distinguishes approved unpaid leave from unexplained absence using the leave and session records, so the payroll effect is transparent. Employees can view balances and regularize mistakes before unpaid days are locked in. leave and attendance basics.
Related terms
Loss of Pay (LOP) is a deduction from an employee's salary for days they were absent from work without any available paid leave to cover the absence. The day is treated as unpaid, and the per-day salary is subtracted from that month's earnings. LOP is calculated from attendance data at the end of each pay cycle.
Read definition →Attendance regularization is the process by which an employee fixes an incorrect or missing attendance record, and a manager approves the correction. It covers situations like forgetting to mark in, a device failure, or working off-site. The corrected record then flows into leave and payroll calculations.
Read definition →Payroll inputs are the data points fed into payroll each cycle to compute salaries, such as days present, leave taken, loss-of-pay days, overtime, and comp off. They convert attendance and policy into rupee amounts. Accurate inputs are the difference between correct and disputed salaries.
Read definition →Compensatory off (comp off) is a paid day of leave an employee earns by working on a designated weekly off, national holiday, or festival holiday. Instead of overtime pay, the employee banks an equivalent day off to take later. It is a common way Indian IT firms and agencies balance project deadlines with rest entitlements.
Read definition →