Can a Probationary Employee Leave Without Notice? Seeking Advice on Legal Steps

I want somebody to advise me. In my organization, a finance officer in the probation period wants to leave the job without giving the notice period. As per the appointment order, he is supposed to give a 30-day notice. What is the procedure or legality behind this.

Hema

He is supposed to give the payment for the notice period to the company. Otherwise, you can adjust his leave or adjust his full and final settlement amount. Calculate the notice period amount, then you have to deduct the amount from his settlement.

Thiru

Hi Hema,

As per the terms of the agreement, he is supposed to give 30 days' notice, or you can adjust his available leave balance if any. In case there is no leave balance, you can deduct his 30 days' salary as his notice pay.

Sekar

@Hema,

You can't take any legal action! The best that you can do is to block his salary and warn him, stating he will be marked as absconding without the notice period. This will eventually affect him in case of any reference checks.

Dear Hema,

In case any employee fails to comply with the appointment terms at the time of exit, he will need to bear the consequences. In this case, if the person is not willing to serve the notice period and has a few Privilege Leaves to his credit, the same can be offset against the notice period. If he does not have sufficient PLs, then he will need to pay for the shortfall in the notice period. The company need not process any of his relieving formalities until he clears the shortfall. The company may also take a stance of withholding the relieving letter. But try as much as possible to close this case amicably.

Hope this clarifies.

Dear Hema,

If he is not giving a notice period and wants to leave immediately, there is no problem. You can tell him that he has to pay one month's salary to the company if this clause is mentioned in his appointment letter.

Rgds Bhagwan Tolani HR Manager - CM Group Mumbai 9968737796

Hi Hema,

I think the finance officer has a lot of responsibilities. If he is leaving without serving notice, then you can instruct him to complete all pending work at the earliest. You cannot force any employee to stay if they wish to leave. As a precautionary measure, let him leave on good terms.

Regards,
Seema Goswami

Legally, an appointment letter should state that if a person is on probation, either party can terminate the agreement after giving 30 days' notice. If your letter is one-sided, then such a letter does not hold any legal weight, and the employee can leave without providing any notice.

Regards,
Meghal

We recently removed the clause probation in order to enforce the notice period for some of our employees. Notice period applies only after probation when an employee is confirmed in the employment. If notice period is mentioned during probation as well, it becomes very difficult and costly to deal with non-performers. Please check if notice period during probation has been mentioned. I doubt that is the case. During probation, only a day's notice is sufficient.

For better clarity of thought, would you consider publishing the appointment order without personal details? This way, opinions can be more focused and relevant without making assumptions.

Sekar

Excellent thoughts. Can you please help me with one question: Identify 5 different criteria by which organizations can compensate employees. Based on your knowledge and experience, do you think performance is the criteria most used in practice?

Thanks and enjoy your weekend! BL

I would suggest you talk to him and explain the criticality of the responsibilities. First, talk to his manager and understand how critical this resource is, how much time it takes to do the KT. Get a new replacement for this job (if you find anyone internally). Ask the employee to hand over all his responsibilities. After confirmation from the manager and the new replacement on proper KT, you can release him. For that, he should spend at least 7-14 days (including weekends).

If this does not work out, you can proceed as our friends suggested above.

Hi Hema,

Regarding your query, every employee should adhere to the company policy. You mentioned that the notice period is specified in his appointment order, so he should comply with that requirement. Even though he is in the probation period, he should not disregard this obligation. You should inform him about the policy.

Firstly, verify his resignation date and ensure he has received an acceptance letter for his resignation. Without these documents, he should not be allowed to leave at his own convenience. If he wants to resign immediately after obtaining the necessary approvals, he must pay one month's salary to the company. This amount can be deducted from his Full and Final (F&F) settlement.

Once he has resigned, he should not be granted any leave from the date of resignation onwards. Therefore, he should not be given any leaves during this period.

Best regards,
A. RAVIKANTH.

Dear Hema,

The following are the options you have:

1. If your organization could not recruit at this moment, ask him to give one month's notice and stay.

2. If he denies, you may approach the Commissioner of Labor in your district and file a case to ask him to work for the period stipulated in the Appointment letter.

3. If you have a sufficient supply of human resources, withhold one month's salary.

Regards,
HRD Zone

Hello, I would like to add some words to this discussion.

1- You should ask why he wants to leave the company so early. If the reason is a new job, then fine.

2- In the probation notice period, it should be 7 to 14 days. This is what major companies follow.

3- You can tell him that there will be no support from the company for F & F settlement. Do not give a relieving letter, hold his last salary, and the master key which affects the candidate is to post a letter to the candidate's residence stating that if he does not give the notice period, he will be liable to face a breach of contract as per the appointment letter.

I think this will work for you; try it out. We have tried this...

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If he desires to leave with immediate effect, you can adjust the notice period amount from his final settlement.

Regards,
Arun