Understanding Gratuity and Its Impact on CTC
Gratuity is an amount payable by the employer when an employee leaves after being in service for at least five years. The amount of gratuity is based on the salary of the employee at the time of their departure. It does not become due as soon as they complete five years; rather, it becomes due only when they leave. This means it may happen after five years, seven years, ten years, or even thirty years! Is it possible to calculate the gratuity that may become due after ten, twenty, or thirty years from now?
Similarly, there is a provision in the Payment of Gratuity Act which states that gratuity can be forfeited if the employee is dismissed from service due to charges involving moral turpitude, or it can be forfeited to the extent of damages made by the employee to the company, etc. If in the future the employee is dismissed and the gratuity is forfeited, then wouldn't the CTC be different?
Moreover, gratuity, being an amount payable solely by the employer as a reward for long service, should not be recovered from the employee in any manner. Therefore, the gratuity amount should not be included in the CTC.
Regards,
Madhu.T.K