Comp Off (Compensatory Off)
Comp off is a paid day off granted in exchange for working on a weekly off, holiday or rest day, rather than paying overtime for that work.
Also known as: Compensatory Off, comp off meaning, compensatory leave
It exists because some work cannot be moved. A deployment on a Sunday, a stock count on a public holiday, a client escalation over a weekend — the employee worked when they should have been resting, and comp off returns that day rather than converting it to cash.
The mechanics matter more than they look. A comp off has to be earned before it can be taken, which means the extra day worked must be recorded and approved, not remembered. It usually carries an expiry — commonly thirty, sixty or ninety days — because the point is rest, and a comp off banked for two years has stopped serving that purpose. And it needs a clear rule on part days: whether four hours on a rest day earns half a comp off or none at all.
Where comp off goes wrong is in the gap between earning and taking. If the extra day is captured in attendance but the balance lives in a spreadsheet, employees lose track of what they are owed and managers approve leave against a balance nobody can verify. The credit and the debit have to sit in the same ledger.
Statutory note
Indian shops and establishments legislation is state-specific on rest days and compensatory rest. Where a state mandates a weekly rest day, granting comp off does not by itself discharge the obligation — check the applicable state rules.
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See leave managementRelated terms
LOP (Loss of Pay)
LOP is an unpaid absence — a day an employee did not work and had no paid leave balance to cover, so the corresponding salary is deducted from that month's pay.
Overtime (OT)
Overtime is work done beyond an employee's scheduled hours, usually paid at a premium rate rather than at the ordinary hourly wage.
Shift
A shift is a defined block of working hours assigned to an employee — its start and end times, breaks and grace period — against which their attendance is measured.
Attendance Regularisation
Attendance regularisation is the process of correcting an attendance record after the fact — a missed punch, a forgotten check-out, or time worked away from the usual place — through a request the manager approves.