Understanding Probation Period, Notice Period, and Legal Implications in Employment

Hi all,

I am working as an HR in a company. One of our employees has left the organization without serving the notice period. He was on a probation period and worked for only 1 month. Now we have sent a letter to him requesting him to pay a certain sum of money as he had not served the notice period. Now I want to know, can we take any legal action or any action if he is not paying the money? The amount he is supposed to pay is $7800.

Please advise.

Thanks,
Kinkar

Normally, probation is understood as a period during which "services shall be terminated without notice." If the employer has the right to terminate a probationer without notice, the probationer should also be allowed to leave without notice. Therefore, no suit will be maintainable in such cases. Moreover, he has served only for one month. If at all you could claim from him is the training costs incurred by you. If he pleads that he was not given any training but to the contrary he had spent his entire working time for the benefit of the employer, you cannot recover anything from him. Therefore, do not go legally.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Kinkar,

Since the person has worked only for a month, there is not much you can do to recover the costs incurred on him, be it training costs or otherwise. At most, you could probably send a termination letter stating the termination on grounds of indiscipline.

-Suja

Hi Madhu,

Thank you very much for the information, Sir. However, in the offer letter, it's written clearly that the employee has to serve a 15-day notice period before probation and 1 month after probation or provide money in lieu of that. Given this situation, is there any alternative to sending a termination letter? Please advise.

Thank you,
Kinkar Sarkar