No action can be taken by company. Refuse them straight or avoid. None can be forced to work and no condition in appointment letter to pay in lieu of notice period.
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Notice period recovery if an employee doesn't serve notice period
I joined a company and went to the company office for 5 working days, the company when extended the offer to me had a notice period of 1 months which was changed to three months just two days before joining. I had a very bad feeling about the company since it was changing policies without notice, but had no option but to join. then the COVID-19 pandemic broke loose and i had to immediately move out of pune due to a family emergency. I had informed managers and HR that i will not be able to come to office and apologised for the inconvenience. I did not get any calls or notice and any communication from the company for next two months, and suddenly received a full and final settlement letter from the company with an hefty amount that they were asking me to pay to the company. The amount had notice period dues in addition to some negative earning, not sure how they calculated that. I requested the company to understand my situation but no use. No where in the offer letter was it written that if an employee does not serve notice period then any amount needs to be paid to the company. Infact in the company documents it was written that if an employee does not serve notice period he/she will not receive the full and final settlement and the service letter. I told them it was not a personal choice to not serve the notice period and they could have called me atleast and initimated me that this can happen and could have given me some remote work from home option but they straight away had sent this letter as if all they were wanting was money from me, they were not interested in me serving the notice period but getting money from me without having to pay me anything. Can you please advise on what legal action the company can take against me and what i can do to come out of it.
Asked 4 years ago in Labour
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16 Answers
Engage a lawyer and file detailed reply to legal notice
deny your liability to pay amount demanded in
legal notice
say that as per offer letter notice period was only one month and you are willing to pay one month salary in lieu of notice period
Hello,
- The company can file a suit to recover the dues
- You can send a legal notice to the company demanding arrears of payment of any due and deny liability for payment as there's no such stipulations in your appointment letter.
- Engage a lawyer to deal with the lawyer notice to the company. Brief him or her about your appointment terms by providing a copy and the full and final settlement.
- As per law, an employer can terminate its employee , if found guilty of willful insubordination or disobedience; theft, fraud, or dishonesty; willful damage to or loss of employer’s goods; partaking of bribes or any illegal gratification; absence without leave for more than 10 days; habitual late attendance; disorderly behavior during working hours; or habitual negligence of work.
- Further , an employer cannot terminate an employee without giving the employee at least 30 days of notice or a salary in lieu of such notice.
- Further, as per the Industrial Disputes Act , any such employee who has been employed for greater than a year can only be terminated after permission is granted by a suitable government office. Additionally, an employer must provide valid reason for termination and pay a severance amount that is equivalent to 15 days’ average salary for each year of uninterrupted employment.
- Hence, as per law, the company cannot terminated for the reasons , which was not under your control & reach , and further the company is bound to refund you the salary for the period of you was attached with the company.
- Working for the period of notice period arises , when you resigned , and not for termination .
- Hence, if you have tendered your resignation , then you will have to serve the notice period legally or will have to pay for the notice period .
- Since, the said company has terminated you , hence this not applied here , and the company should compensate for the same to you.
- You should send him a reply for that notice received by you , and thereby ask for the salary from the period of joining to till date , as per rule.
- If, no response , then you can lodge your complaint with the court.
Good luck and dont forget to rating Positively.
If you haven't served notice then you can but the notice period. If some loss is incurred by your company due to not serving the notice period they can seek action on you for the same. But actual defense can be only taken once they serve you a notice for damages. For any assistance contact me in kaanoon on 9a7g6g9g4e9g0f9f1a1. Consultation charges applicable.
No, need worry about it if you have not work more than 5 days, just ignore their calls and letter of full n final settlement.
Dear querist,
This action of the company is untenable and unwanted. What can be done in this situation is:
1. A legal notice well drafted mentioning the agreement terms and untenable action by the company and moreover, seeking compensation if not your job for the mental harrasment.
2. we can approach the labour commission regarding the unlawful termination of your employment and seeking undue advantage out of your termination.
rest we will have to look for some other options after perusing the documents we have in our hand.
In case you need my assistance for the matter, i can be contacted for consultation or on linkedin.
http://linkedin.com/in/yuganshu-sharma-655091183
regards,
Yuganshu sharma
Advocate
They are threatening to take legal action unless you pay them. This is ridiculous. Don't reply to any of their notices. They are harassing you so that they can take some money from you.
Don't reply. They will do nothing.
File a petition to the civil court under employee protection act
Dear sir, if employee don't serve notice period then he may a demand notice for recovery of notice period. Then after sending demand notice he does not pay then you may file a case for recovery of dues.
since at the time of extending offer to you, only one month notice period was provided, the company cannot change the conditions unilaterally. Even, due to emergency in your family, you left the office and had informed the managers & HR, and later could not come due to COVID-19 and as a result of lockdown, the company cannot recover any amount from you over and above one month salary, which too would be very difficult for them to prove in the court.
Actually when you resign the job then you are liable to serve the notice period, if not then you may have to pay the compensation to the company for the un served notice period.
Therefore there is no illegality in the company's claim seeking compensation for not serving the notice period while leaving the company.
Since you received a notice from the company it will become your duty to issue a reply notice denying their allegations or claim made against you.
Even though you say that you hardly served only for 5 days, you should have followed the proper procedures as per the conditions mentioned in the employment offer letter while quitting the company once for all.
The company waited for you to join back whereas you have deserted the company hence the company has initiated legal action for recovery of its dues from you as per law.
If you still refuse to pay the demanded amount, the company may initiate steps for recovery of money through court of law.
Once you have accepted the offer given by your present employer, you must honor the same. Working with one day or five or one month does not make any difference to get the relieving from the services of your current employer. Nothing is wrong to join in new company, when you got good offer, but you should not ignore the offer given by present employer.As such, by working till the completion of notice period or making payment in lieu of notice period, you request your present employer to accept your resignation and get a graceful exit in order to avoid complications. The appointment letter is nothing but an agreement in between by an employee and employer. On breach of the terms and conditions by one party, the other party has a remedy to invoke the jurisdiction of competent courts to get relief as per your appointment order.
1. Well if you did not approve the extension of notice period from 1 month to 3 months then you should have sent a letter to the employer to protest it, but if you did not do so then you have acquiesced to the extension of the notice period, and therefore you are bound to honour it now.
2. Even if liquidated damages is not mentioned in the contract of employment the employer can still make an estimation of damages and demand it in the notice.
3. Now you reply to the letter and you may deny your liability to pay anything on the ground that lockdown is a force majeure, hence you had to move out of town and that you are still ready and willing to honour the notice period.
4. If a suit for damages is subsequently filed by the employer then you have to contest it.
The terms and conditions of your appointment are important.
In order to counter their notice, you need to engage a Lawyer and through him issue reply to the notice sent to you.
You can deny the contents of the notice.
You can take shelter of T&C of appointment letter i.e., one month notice and offer to pay salary in lieu of one month notice period.
It is the company which has to prove it claim, once you deny with supporting documents.
1. Your employer cannot force your to pay penalty for not serving notice period because they changed the notice period without any information.
2. They will not file case against you for recovery of dues as it will cost them heavy court fees and legal fees so you should not worry.
3. If still they file case then you can take defence that due to lockdown you were unable to go to work and they send notice without waiting for lockdown to get over and joining again so they terminated you so they have to pay salary for notice period.
