January 06, Colombo (LNW): The Ministry of Public Administration has introduced a set of updated guidelines to streamline the approval process for both domestic and foreign unpaid leave for public sector employees.
This move aims to address discrepancies in the management of leave requests and to ensure that officials’ pension entitlements are not adversely affected by extended leave periods.
In a directive sent to all District Secretaries, the Ministry clarified that unpaid leave must be granted in a manner that preserves employees’ rights to pension benefits.
The Ministry has expressed concern over cases where public officials had applied for domestic leave extending up to five years, while in some instances, individuals had failed to properly cancel their earlier domestic leave before requesting foreign leave.
Under the new guidelines, public officials applying for foreign leave will now be required to submit a detailed record of their previous leave history.
This review process is intended to ensure that any inconsistencies or overlapping leave periods are identified and addressed before further leave is granted.
District Secretaries have been given the responsibility of scrutinising all leave applications carefully, ensuring that full documentation of past domestic and foreign leave is included with the submission.
The guidelines also stress the importance of compliance with the Public Administration Circular issued on June 22, 2022, which outlines specific regulations for leave management in the public sector.
The Ministry has highlighted that these steps are necessary to eliminate irregularities and improve the efficiency and transparency of the leave approval system, which has been under scrutiny due to recent cases of mismanagement.
