Can a Company Terminate After Accepting Resignation? Seeking Advice on a Friend's Case

Hi,

I need advice from seniors regarding my friend's case.

My friend joined a software company 3 months ago, but due to some reasons, his reference check from the previous company came back negative. His current company informed him that they would close his case in 7 days. However, he decided to resign before that, and his resignation was accepted. Now, the company is stating that they will not provide him with a relieving letter and instead issue a termination letter.

Is it possible for the company to issue a termination letter now, even after accepting his resignation? Please advise.

Regards,
Gunjan

Dear Friend,

If your friend has a copy of the accepted resignation letter, which serves as proof of resignation, then in my opinion, the company has no right to terminate the services. The company must provide the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the concerned employee.

Regards,
Abhishek

Dear Gunjan,

I would like to tell everyone that people should be very careful while accepting the offer letter. Please do not get carried away. It is absolutely unethical and unprofessional to issue an offer letter without verifying properly with the past employers. As HR professionals, we should not engage in such practices of issuing offer letters before verifying with the previous employer if that is mandatory. In many cases, employers provide negative replies. You can always verify with a reference other than the last employer after issuing the offer letter, but if you wish to get feedback from the last employer, it must be done before making the offer.

In a termination case, if your resignation has been received by the appropriate authority, then you cannot be terminated. For termination, the employer must follow proper disciplinary proceedings, giving you the opportunity to prove your case.

From your post, it seems like your friend has received the appointment letter. I believe that once the appointment letter has been issued, unless there is a misrepresentation of fact or false/incorrect information in the submitted documents, the opinion or rating of the previous employer cannot be grounds for terminating an employee.

Regards,

SC