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Fatwa CenterMissing work days and signing full attendance
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. Due to adverse hot conditions, the government has decided to suspend classes in West Bengal, India, but they have not clarified what the teachers should do. So we are going to school daily and return home after spending some time there. For our convenience, we have parted into two groups comprising 20 teachers each. Each group goes to school for two days, and the other remain absent, and vice-versa, but they all sign in the attendance daily. Is it Islamicly jusitified to sign in this way?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
An employee is a private worker, i.e. a hired worker who is contracted to perform a specific task in a specific period of time, and he is obliged to offer his services and make himself available during the working hours (according to the agreement with his employer) throughout the period of the contract, even if there are no tasks assigned to him, and he would be entitled to his salary or wages in full.
The Fiqh book Kashshaaf Al-Qinaa‘ reads, "The private worker is the worker whose work is measured by a specific amount of time and is exclusively for the employer during the period of the contract; so he is entitled to his wages in full if he offered his services according to the agreement even if no tasks are assigned to him..."
As for the teachers' attendance when the classes are suspended because of intense heat, this is to be decided according to the decision of the school administration. If intense heat and the absence of the students are considered an excuse for the absence of the teachers and the administration does not mind that some teachers sign on behalf of the others and that some of them attend some days instead of all working days, then there is no harm in that. But if the school administration obliges all teachers to attend and spend the whole working hours at work, then the teachers are obliged to abide by that and it is impermissible for them to divide the attendance between them and sign in for each other.
Allaah knows best.
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