Pooja is a lab technician at a diagnostics centre in Nagpur. In October 2025 her casual leave had run out, her mother was in hospital, and she took 2 days off anyway. Her monthly pay is ₹27,000: Basic, HRA and a special allowance that depend on attendance, and a fixed ₹2,000 conveyance that doesn't.
The centre's accountant has to decide what those 2 days cost her. Depending on which of three common rules the policy uses, the answer moves by a few hundred rupees, and the difference is worth understanding before anybody's payslip is argued over.
Loss of pay meaning, in one line
Loss of pay, or LOP, is the salary held back for days an employee was absent without paid leave to cover them. It applies to approved unpaid leave, and to absences nobody applied for at all. It isn't a fine: the law lets you deduct for absence only in proportion to the time away (section 20 of the Code on Wages), so the whole question is what one day is worth.
The LOP deduction formula
For every pay component that depends on attendance:
LOP = (monthly amount ÷ divisor) × unpaid days
Two choices sit inside that line. Which components depend on attendance, and what the divisor is. Basic, HRA and most allowances are docked. Fixed reimbursements, such as conveyance or a phone allowance paid against bills, usually aren't. The divisor is a policy choice, and there are three in common use.
LOP calculation for one month, three ways
October 2025 had 31 days. The centre is closed on Sundays, of which there were 4, and on Gandhi Jayanti and Diwali, which leaves 25 working days. Here are Pooja's 2 unpaid days under each divisor, worked out by the payroll engine Facto Lite runs:
| Divisor | Days paid | One day costs | LOP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed 30 days (30) | 29 of 30 | ₹833 | ₹833 |
| Calendar days in the month (31) | 29 of 31 | ₹806 | ₹1,613 |
| Working days in the month (25) | 23 of 25 | ₹1,000 | ₹2,000 |
The centre's appointment letters say working days, so that's the row that applies to Pooja:
Her Basic of ₹13,500 becomes ₹12,420, HRA ₹5,400 becomes ₹4,968, and the special allowance ₹6,100 becomes ₹5,612. Each line is rounded on its own and then added up, so the payslip she reads adds up exactly.
The fixed-30 row needs a word. October has 31 days, and on a fixed 30 a full month still pays 30 of 30. Counting 31 − 2 = 29 days and paying 29 of 30 means the first unpaid day in a 31-day month costs nothing, which is why two days take only ₹833. The other common reading is 30 − 2 = 28 days, which would take ₹1,667. Both are in use, and Facto Lite uses the first. February is the month to check on a fixed 30: with 28 days, counting days would pay a full month 28 of 30. It shouldn't. A full February pays 30 of 30, and each unpaid day still comes off at a thirtieth, which is how Facto Lite counts it. Whichever you use, write it down.
