What Can I Do If My Company Won't Give Me an Experience Letter After Resignation?

Experience Letter Issue

I would like to know if there is any solution if management refuses to provide me with an experience letter. I am leaving for better prospects and am ready to give the proper 1-month notice period to the company as per company rules. However, they are not willing to accept the notice period or provide a proper experience letter. What should I do?

I spent 2 1/2 years in the organization. How can I prove this to another place? Can I take any action against them?

Regards,
Swati

Request for Guidance on Experience Letter Issue

Please, seniors, guide me in this matter. This is happening in many organizations, but we are not able to do anything. Anybody from the seniors... please help.

Regards, Swati

Steps to Obtain an Experience Letter

In your post, you have not mentioned whether you have submitted your resignation letter. If done, then send them a letter, not an email, signed by you via Speed Post with POD.

In this letter, you must refer to and extract the notice period clause in your appointment letter and also mention the date of submission of your resignation, the notice period, and your intended Last Working Day (LWD). Upon receipt of this notice from you, they should definitely relieve you and issue an experience letter.

If no positive result comes out, then you need to consult a local legal counsel.

With Regards,

Advocates & Notaries & Legal Consultants [HR]
E-mail: [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
Mobile: [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons].

Hi Swati, First, you must confirm whether your resignation letter has been accepted. If it has been accepted, you must give the proper notice period as mentioned in your appointment letter and discuss this with your management. If, despite this, they do not provide you with a relieving letter after you have served the full notice period, you should consult a local legal officer regarding the matter.

I presented my resignation with the mentioned notice period in front of management, but they refused to sign it as "accepted." However, I emailed it through my personal email ID to the company mail ID and the GM of the company (i.e., Senior HOD to me). Upon receiving my email, they made me leave the job on the same day and refused to provide an experience letter.

Regards,
Swati

In the least case, you can also prove your association with your present employer by using your P.F. A/c Number and pay slips. This information is sufficient to prove to your new employer regarding your experience and employment.

Be cautious in dealing with your current employer because they may make false allegations against you. Try to resolve the issue within your scope. The only thing you can do is provide proper handovers from your end.

All the best.

Swati, it's rare that an employer will deliberately spoil someone's career without any reason or cause from your side. You will need to sit down with them to resolve the differences; there is no other way. Otherwise, if anyone calls and asks, they will definitely receive a negative response.

Seeking legal counsel is seldom a good solution. Remember, no law can compel an employer to provide a positive experience letter. In fact, I don't believe it's even a legal requirement for the employer to issue an experience letter; such provisions are absent in the law. If, by chance, you manage to obtain a letter, any reference check could turn into a disaster for you.

For proof of previous employment, you can provide your salary slip (if you have any).

Dear, First of all, I will express my views about the organization and the people in HR. Such types of organizations do not work in the long run as they do not get good human resources to support them. Legally, it is a clause in certified standing orders to provide an experience letter by mentioning that so and so has worked from this date to that date. You should consult a legal advisor locally.

Regards

Employer's Obligation to Provide Experience Certificate

First of all, it is not right for an employer to deny an experience certificate. As per the standing orders or appointment letter, if an employee serves a one-month notice, they have the right to one month's salary. If they want to settle before the due date, you can claim one month's salary.

Also, you are supposed to be issued a positive certificate after 2 1/2 years of impeccable service unless there is an established case against you, and it is not a dismissal. You definitely have a legal ground to support your claim. However, it is always better to find a solution on a pleasant note instead of antagonizing them. Otherwise, they can harm you during reference checking. Make an attempt to smooth things over. Litigation can be the last resort. Good luck.

Dear Swati, it is not ethical for any employer to withhold an experience letter from their employees when they leave their job. You should request your seniors in your company to hand over all your dues along with the experience letter.

Also, make sure to share your problem with your new employer, explaining that your current employer has not provided you with an experience letter. Then, after discussing with your friend or senior, take the right steps before leaving your job.

Regards,
Golden Tomar
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

I concur with saswatabanerjee. But why do you want an experience certificate if you already have the employment? It is difficult to get the right type of Experience Certificate from an unethical employer. If forced, you may get a tainted service certificate. If you have their appointment letter, salary slips, and FORM 16, these are proof enough to show that you worked there. You may also apply for the transfer of the accumulation of your provident fund (which your previous employer deducted from your salary and deposited with RPFC) for transfer to your new PF account of your present employer, through your present employer. This will demonstrate your employment with your previous employer.

Moreover, your ID Card and ESIC Card (if you have one from your previous employer) are proof enough that you worked there. Consolidate all these in a folder and use it as an experience certificate. These are incontrovertible proof of your employment with your previous employer, which cannot be denied.

If someone is not issuing the experience letter, it doesn't matter. You should have kept your first and last salary slips.

Fight for your right. They must provide Earned Leave (E.L.) to you. The company where you worked may not be professional. If you have an appointment letter and the last salary slip, and you are talented, there is no need for an Experience Certificate.

Best of luck,
SH

If you have received the appointment letter/offer letter and the last salary slip, then you don't need an experience letter (unless you cannot obtain it amicably). These two documents are sufficient to demonstrate your experience.

There are many organizations in the industry today that refuse to issue experience letters or make timely payments of full and final settlements. One such company I can name is a Power Distribution company in Greater Noida, which is part of one of the reputed business houses of India. They don't bother to make timely payments of full and final settlements, leaving aside the issuance of experience certificates, etc.

Kindly inform the appropriate forum/law under which an ex-employee can claim his or her rightful dues.

Mallik, can you show me the part of the standing orders where you are required to give an experience certificate? Also, is this requirement only in Delhi, or is it applicable to places like Mumbai as well? I was not aware of this rule.

Saswata

In the Schedule to the Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act, 1946, there is a list of things which an employer has to define. The list is as follows:

THE SCHEDULE

[See Sections 2(g) and 3(2)]

MATTERS TO BE PROVIDED IN STANDING ORDERS UNDER THIS ACT

1. Classification of workmen, e.g., whether permanent, temporary, apprentices, probationers, or badlis.

2. Manner of intimating to workmen periods and hours of work, holidays, pay-days, and wage rates.

3. Shift working.

4. Attendance and late coming.

5. Conditions of, procedure in applying for, and the authority which may grant leave and holidays.

6. Requirement to enter premises by certain gates, and liability to search.

7. Closing and reporting of sections of the industrial establishment, temporary stoppages of work, and the rights and liabilities of the employer and workmen arising therefrom.

8. Termination of employment, and the notice thereof to be given by the employer and workmen.

9. Suspension or dismissal for misconduct, and acts or omissions which constitute misconduct.

10. Means of redress for workmen against unfair treatment or wrongful exactions by the employer or his agents or servants.

11. Any other matter which may be prescribed.

Your matter falls under Point No. 10.

Further to my post #23, it is clarified that as per Rule No. 16 of the INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT (STANDING ORDERS) CENTRAL RULES, 1946 [Notification No. L.R. 11 (37), dated the 18th December 1946], it is obligatory on the part of the employer to provide a Service Certificate to the permanent workman. Rule 16 is reproduced below:

Rule 16. Certificate on Termination of Service

Every permanent workman shall be entitled to a service certificate at the time of his dismissal, discharge, or retirement from service.

You can download a copy of the Act at: labour.nic.in
You can download a copy of these Rules at: labour.nic.in

I agree with Mr. Surendra Hegde. An experience letter is always good but not necessary. Your appointment letter is a document of evidence of your start date with the organization, and the resignation/full & final letter is proof of your last date.

Proving Your Tenure

However, if they are not accepting the resignation, you can prove your tenure in several ways:

1. Showing your last payslips.
2. References from your colleagues/seniors in the organization (telephonic, after you get your offer rolled out from the new company).
3. Your ESI/EPF records.
4. Add your confirmation letter and last revised salary/promotion letter for additional evidence.
5. Insurance premium paid by your organization and tax liability filed.
6. Lastly, ask a senior or a peer in the organization to write you a letter of recommendation with a date (if not on paper, then on LinkedIn or any other professional networking profile). That will help you get better prospects.

P.S. A lot of organizations will take you as who you are today and what you can bring to the table. A good company will take you irrespective of this formality as they can cover it up with other evidence.

Take care.

Regards,
Hargovind Kakkar
Faculty - Department of Human Resource

You should go with a lawful sequence to follow them. You have already done many of the necessary steps. Now, you should collect your communication with the company in chronological order, such as your salary slips regardless of their previous nature, your resignation letter with full details of your terms of joining, and discuss the matter truthfully with your new company.

A local counsel will be of great help, as your legal rights cannot be denied. All the best.

Regards,
Shivendra

Dear All,

Experience Certificate Issues for Employees

No doubt, the standing orders may provide for the issuance of an Experience Certificate. This may be good for blue-collared workers, but for white-collared employees, they are still clueless. The only option is to lodge a complaint with the authorities or send a legal notice. Furthermore, many freshers cannot afford this. This is where we can establish a Legal Aid Cell in CITE HR involving volunteers to handle such deserving cases.

With Regards,

[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Handling Resignation and Proof of Employment

You must know the situation in the company when you submit a letter of resignation. If the situation is not favorable to us, then the letter must be sent through speed post with a proof of delivery copy. In this regard, you also have the appointment letter and salary slip from that company, which is definitely evidence that you are working there. Additionally, you also have a copy of the resignation letter with proof of delivery for acknowledgment from the company. This is sufficient to prove your employment in that company for a certain period.

Regards,
Kamat V. P.