Can Delaying Relieving Papers Help Prevent Employee Misconduct? Seeking Legal Guidance

Hi,

There is a situation in my office where one of the employees, who was in the notice period, caused some damage to the machines and was relieved on the 30th day of his notice with the relieving papers. We only discovered the damage after he had already left the company, resulting in a loss for us.

I would like to know if it is possible to issue the relieving papers after 7 days from the last notice date (i.e., after 37 days from the initial notice). Can we proceed in this manner, and are there any laws preventing this action? I seek guidance from senior professionals on how to handle such situations.

To clarify, the employee can be relieved on the 30th day of his notice, but can we issue the relieving papers on the 37th day after thorough review? We believe this approach may discourage employees from engaging in misconduct, knowing that we retain their relieving papers.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Regards, Gayathri

Dear Gayathri,

To avoid these kinds of damages and situations, we need to have a process of "No-Dues Clearance" which requires authorization from all the functional teams/all the teams that handle the assets of the company. If there is anything to be recovered from an employee, it can be notified to HR so that it could be deducted from his full and final settlement.

As far as my understanding is concerned, few companies release the experience letters after the payment of the full and final settlement. In that case, they have to give the relieving letter on the relieving date. While we expect that an employee should join our company with all the required documents, as an employer, we will also have to ensure that we do the needful from our end.

In the given situation, the process could have been as follows:

* A supervisor/manager should have been there to take care of all the machineries.

* When an employee approached him for the no dues clearance, the manager should have checked the functionality of machines and signed accordingly - if the machine was fine, he could have cleared it; if the machine was not in the condition, he should have put it as a remark in it.

* Based on the extent of damage, HR should have deducted the amount from his full and final settlement.

Hope this clarifies your query, and please let me know if you have any questions on this.

Regards,
GVS

Dear GVS,

Good points stressed by you. In order to get rid of these critical issues, a process called "Handover & Takeover" is to be carried out during the joining and exit of an employee. The supervisor or the next-level manager would ensure that everything is in place as per the system, which includes files, documents, machineries, etc. The process could be documented and would be of greater use.

Regards,
Suresh M

Dear GVS,

Thanks for clarifying. It would be of great help if you could send the process of Exit Clearances or relieving formalities that you follow, and if you have any specific formats of No dues clearances checklists, please send them to me to follow.

The process which I follow as the relieving formalities are:
1) Exit interview
2) Exit clearances only from their Network administrators.
3) Payment settlements
4) Checking on the knowledge sharing of that employee in the notice period.
5) PF registers and leave registers.
6) Handover of the relieving papers.

Kindly check and guide me to stop these types of activities in the future by following the clearances as you said. Also, please let me know if any labor law or rule states about the relieving of an employee regarding my situation.

Regards,
Gayathri.

Dear friend,

If your organization is small enough, you can simply have a No Due Certificate containing the following details: NAME, DEPARTMENT, DESIGNATION, DATE OF RESIGNATION, COMMENTS, SIGNATURE OF THE DEPARTMENT HEAD. This format should be sent to all the departments (on separate sheets) associated with the resigned person, either through the resigned person or separately. Only after receiving clearance can we issue the relieving order. You can refer to the Industrial Establishments (Standing Orders) Act and the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act (if it is outside Tamil Nadu).

Dear Gayathri,

Please find below the basic contents of a "No Dues Certificate":

Employee Code/Number:
Employee Name:
DOJ: (This will indicate whether the employee is a probationer/confirmed employee).
Date of Resignation: (This will indicate whether the employee has served his notice period or not).
Relieving date:

Authorization/Signatures to be done by the following teams. You can have three columns for Teams, Signatures, and Comments and add more based on your requirements.

Reporting Manager/Supervisor: To ensure that proper knowledge transfer is done and all machinery/equipment are in proper condition.

Admin Team: ID card and other assets owned by the Admin team.

Network Team: Network ID, Laptop, etc.

Travel and Visa: Is mandatory in IT companies where a lot of travel happens.

Finance Team: Advances, Loans, etc.

HR Team: Leave calculations and verifications, PF, ESI, Gratuity, etc., Full and Final Settlement.

Suggested flow of work is:

Finance could sign only after signatures from all teams.
Only after the signature from Finance, HR could work on F&F settlement and issue the letters.

It is better to have a double-check on all this before you release the letters. Based on your organizational requirements, add more teams to what I have mentioned. You can frame this either in Word/Excel.

For your queries on laws, I need to get clarified on a few things before I confirm with you; but for the process part, I am sure you can frame an effective policy and let me know for further support.

Regards,
GVS

---

Dear GVS,

Thanks for clarifying. It would be of great help if you could send the process of Exit Clearances or relieving formalities which you follow, and if you have any specific formats of No dues clearances checklists, please send them to me to follow.

The process which I follow for relieving formalities is:
1) Exit interview
2) Exit clearances only from their Network administrators.
3) Payment settlements
4) Checking on the knowledge sharing of that employee in the notice period.
5) PF registers and leave registers.
6) Handover of the relieving papers.

Kindly check and guide me to stop these types of activities in the future by following the clearances as you said.

Also, please let me know if any labor law or rule states about the relieving of an employee in regards to my situation.

Regards,
Gayathri.

To claim his PF, he needs to check whether it has been settled. He should contact the personnel department for assistance. If he fails to do so, he may be held responsible for any damages incurred.

Dear GVS,

Thank you. I will implement the format which you provided for all future uses and try to prevent such losses in the future.

I would also like to learn more about competency mapping models and performance review models commonly used in all IT companies. In our company, we follow the MBO method, but I am interested in understanding the 360-degree method as well.

I am hopeful of receiving a lot of support from you seniors.

Regards,
Gayathri

Dear HR Gurus,

Regarding the discussion on clearance formalities, I fully agree with Mr. GVS and Mr. Suresh. These practices are prevalent in many companies.

Thanks,
Maharana

Dear All,

In addition to the policy on exit, you can have a detailed procedure for such activity in Standing Orders duly certified by competent authority so that you will have a hold on legal issues.

Chandrasekaran.V

Dear Gayatri,

There are two ways to come out of this situation:

a) Your option was whether you can give the relieving letter after 7 days of the notice period:

1. It all depends on your company policy. You should include in your policy or appointment letter a statement that the relieving letter will be given after 7 days of the notice period. The company's policy/appointment letter is something we discuss during the time of joining or during induction. Therefore, if an employee is terminating, he/she will have a clear understanding and will communicate accordingly with the HR of the new company. This is not a new process, as every company follows its own policy according to its environment.

b) This option is accepted by every company (Exit Interviews Form). This has also been discussed with you by many of our friends.

Thank you,
Madhura (HR)
Mumbai

If any employee leaves the organization, you must check whether there are any dues from them, any damage or loss to the machinery, etc. It is better to issue a relieving order and experience certificate after they have cleared all sections. It is not good to hold their certificates after 7 days from the date of their resignation. They may have assured another company to join by a specified date, or the new employer may ask for the relieving order when joining duty. Please follow the NO DUES procedure.

MANOKAVIN

Hi Gayatri,

From my point of view, it is unethical to increase the notice period of an employee because you cannot ignore the rules and regulations of the company.

Thanks,
SACHIN DHAMIJA

Dear Gayathri,

Thanks. I will implement the format which you gave for all future uses and try to prevent such losses in the future.

I would also like to learn more about competency mapping models and Performance review models commonly used in all IT companies. In our company, we follow the MBO method, but I am interested in understanding the 360-degree method as well.

I hope to receive ample support from you seniors.

Regards,
Gayathri

The departing employee has to submit the 'No due' certificate on the relieving day with clearance confirmations from all departments concerned.

You can give him the relieving letter on the same day as they have to submit it to the new employer. You may take a week's time for the full and final settlement, and then you can give the experience letter.

These are some of the things where you can resolve such issues:

Just prepare a form like "No-Dues". You can have lots of things in your "No Due Form"; right from ID cards, library books, transportation, any health cards, mobile bill, travel and visa, hotel dues (if provided), desk keys, clearance from System Admin Team, Team Lead/Supervisor, cafeteria, and lastly from the security.

Send it to the Payroll Department/Respective HR Head. In the final settlement, you can deal in a better way if any of these things are pending or any damage occurs.

Dear All,

GVS has given very good feedback on the said topic. I would like to inform you that we are also applying the same procedure as GVS mentioned here, i.e., as soon as any resignation letter comes to the HR Dept., we check for acceptance of it from the concerned HOD and then issue an Acceptance of Resignation Letter. Once it is done, on the last working day, we send a NOC (No Objection Certificate) or Clearance Sheet to the concerned Dept and Accounts Dept as well to have a clear idea about the person's liability, if any, to proceed further. Based on this, we issue the experience certificate to him/her. For example, please see the attached sample of the Clearance Sheet we are currently using for this purpose.

Thank you.

Dear Gayathri,

Just a few suggestions regarding the No Dues Clearance:

Once you frame your No Dues Clearance before finalizing it, please have it checked with our members in Cite HR or with your friends working for other companies; they might be in a position to suggest more. Fix a deadline and try to incorporate the suggestions within a specified date.

Initially, you can have it as a hard copy, later on, you can convert it into a soft copy. Getting authorizations in hard copy requires a lot of time from an employee as they have to meet all the teams in person. If it is in a soft form, you can design it so that teams can authorize it online, and reminders are sent to those who haven't done it. Ensure you have an effective tool for the same.

Answers to your queries are given below:

- Laws/rules for the exit or relieving process: There is no such clause/section in the laws. Also, please note that you cannot deduct PF, Gratuity, ESI, etc., as those benefits are solely for employees. If you intend to deduct from any of those mentioned, there are many processes involved, such as issuing a charge sheet, conducting an inquiry, etc. Ensure all this is documented, and seek advice from your legal team/legal advisor for such matters.

- Competency Mapping Model: Competency Mapping and Competency Model (known as Competency Framework) are different areas of Competency Assessment. Providing you with a basic idea on this topic.

Competency Framework: It is a process of identifying the competencies required for different levels and positions in an organization.

Competency Mapping: It involves measuring an individual's competencies against those derived for their position, level, function, etc. This is typically done during interviews, appraisal reviews, and assessment centers.

Competency Development: Once areas of improvement are identified, competency development is carried out through training, assigning internal projects, or tasks to help develop specific competencies.

- Performance Review Model: Planning and Reviewing phases involve setting Key Result Areas and performance standards, and validating achievements against set KRAs. Also, includes 360 Degree Appraisal where individuals are appraised by supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers.

Gayathri, would appreciate if you could share your experience with MBO.

Dear Seniors,

I have only handled exits among the areas mentioned by me. Please correct me if I am wrong in any of the above-mentioned points.

Regards,
GVS

HRgayathri, in response to your message:

Thanks. I will implement the format you provided for all future uses and try to prevent such losses in the future.

I would like to learn more about competency mapping models and Performance review models commonly used in IT companies. In our company, we follow the MBO method, but I am interested in understanding the 360-degree method as well.

Hoping to receive support from you seniors.

Regards,
Gayathri

Dear,

There is no rule that you should issue a relieving letter on the last day; it is just a process, and you can issue it after you make all the checks and ask him to come back to collect it unless he leaves the station. Merely because he has gone does not mean you cannot claim it if you can fix the responsibility with evidence. You can seek to recover the loss.

With Regards,
V. Sounder Rajan

Email: rajanassociates@eth.net

Hi, Gayatri,

You can register the case with the local police. Consult with them so that the employee can be brought to book officially. It is not very difficult. If you have a Security Manager or an Admin Manager, ask them to register the case.

Regards,
Bharat Ketkar

Dear GVS,

Performance reviews in many companies are based on the MBO method (Management by Objectives). Management sets objectives for the review process, which should be accepted by employees. It is a two-way communication process. The self-assessment score is obtained from employees for a specific organizational goal or objective, and the score given by management (supervisors) for that employee is also considered. Both scores are then compared and discussed with the employees and supervisors to ensure transparency and fairness. This helps employees understand where they stand and allows for a constructive review process.

Please review the corrections and feel free to provide additional information on HR processes. I am interested in learning more about HR processes as I am new to the field.

Regards,
Gayathri.

Hi,

I would like to share what we do to avoid such situations. We have a formality called Full & Final Settlement. On his last working day, the employee has to collect the form and get all relevant department/people signatures, including the project head and group head signature columns, which ensure the handover of work/related materials. After obtaining signatures from others, the employee must go to the Finance department for finance-related settlement. The finance person will inform him of the amount he will receive at the end of the month. However, this amount will only be given after five working days if it is the month-end. If the employee is leaving in the middle of the month, the payment will be made at the end of the month only. The form will then come to HRD, where, after ensuring all signatures have been obtained, the relieving and experience letter can be issued.