Hi Amith,
Many IT companies practice the bonds because they give extensive trainings to their employees to make them productive.
The bond amount / security deposit that they ask for is usually related to the training and opportunity costs involved in the process.
Many of my friends had this scenario and yes, ideally they encash the cheque and keep the amount with them.
Once you start completing the blocks of months of your bond, they usually repay that amount in installments relatively.
You can talk to your HR about the details of the bond, how will they keep the cheque and how will they repay that deposit over a period of time....
Hi Pon,
In respect to your following post -
Bonded employment is surely illegal but that don't mean that service agreements by itself is illegal.
Service agreement is an agreement / contract between the two parties.
Usually both parties agree to be with each other for a certain duration.
A proper service agreement is as applicable to the employer as to the employee and in case if the company terminates the employee, the employee in such case do have a right to be compensated except if he is terminated due to misconduct or some gross offence.
Serivce agreements applicability and legality depends on case to case.