Am I Eligible for Gratuity After Rejoining My Old Company Without a Break?

Hi,

I have received gratuity and then rejoined the same company. I have not completed 5 years after rejoining the company. Am I eligible for the gratuity for the period I have spent after rejoining? My employee number and PF details did not change after rejoining. For more details, please read the below:

I worked in company 5 days a week, for a little over calendar 6 years 5 months (2368 calendar days) and received the gratuity.

I worked in another company (5 days a week) for a little over 6 months (200 calendar days). I rejoined the earlier company (A) without a break after relieving from the above company (B). I have worked in company (A) 5 days a week, for a calendar 1 year 11 months (704 calendar days) after rejoining. Am I eligible for gratuity for this period? My employee number, PF number/trust, etc., did not change after rejoining.

By allowing you to rejoin the company and allotting the old employment number, the company has committed a serious mistake. It may be an omission by the concerned person.

Gratuity is an amount paid or payable by the employer to the employee for the 'long and meritorious' service rendered by the latter. It is for forming a common understanding of the term "long service" that a period of not less than 5 years has been fixed in the Act. It should not be misinterpreted as an amount getting accumulated every year and an amount that can be withdrawn as and when the need for money arises.

It is an amount paid for meritorious service as it is evident from the fact that gratuity can be withheld if the services of an employee are terminated for misconduct, although protection has been given to the employee from any act of the employer making use of this concept in his favor. It should be taken as a one-time payment, a payment made when the employee leaves.

In your case, you have received gratuity when you left company A. The company is not bound to work out the gratuity retrospectively to pay the same at a higher rate (Normally, the amount of salary you are drawing now will be higher). Still, you can get gratuity provided the two conditions listed below are satisfied.

1. You will refund the gratuity received to the company with interest.
2. The period from the date of leaving to the date of rejoining the company will be treated as authorized leave (without pay, certainly), and your service will be regularized.

If the above two conditions are satisfied, your service would be regularized, and the period during which you were not with the company would be treated as leave without pay. Normally, during any year, if an employee could not work for 240 days, that year will be treated as 'interrupted service,' and for the purpose of calculating gratuity, a continuous period of uninterrupted service is required. But you have to ensure that you will get gratuity for the particular year for which you did not work for 240 days or at least 190 days (since you work for less than six days a week).

It will happen only if the company shows the same kindness as shown when you rejoined the company. Therefore, it should not be taken as your right but only an arrangement by which the company will lose. As stated earlier, please do not think that gratuity is something like any fund that can be withdrawn as and when the need arises.

Regards,

Madhu.T.K

Dear,

If someone rejoins a company, the same PF number has to be allotted by law. So, it is not a mistake to allot you the same number. Secondly, there is a break in service and you have already taken all your benefits earlier, so you are not entitled to any gratuity.

Thanks,
J. S. Malik

Gratuity Eligibility for Rejoined Employees

If an employee works in a company for 4 years regularly and exits without receiving their gratuity benefit, and after 3 years and 9 months, the employee rejoins the same company and works for 9 years, is the employee eligible to receive the gratuity benefit for their past service of 4 years? If yes, then how?