Employee Resignation Dilemma: How to Handle Notice Period Confusion Without a Confirmation Letter?

Dear Sir, Please solve this issue. One of the employees has resigned from the position of Account Officer and demanded full and final payments with a 10-day notice period. He has been working for 1 year, but a confirmation letter has not been issued to him. When we informed him about the one-month notice period that should be served, he raised the following questions:

1. Can you tell me the rules and regulations regarding the notice period served by an employee?
2. Why has the confirmation letter not been issued to me until now?

Therefore, I kindly request you to address this matter and explain the rules regarding the notice period. I believe he is correct because as per the appointment letter, he is not confirmed until the confirmation letter is issued.

Thank you.

Dear Ashok, there are several things that need to be taken care of:

1. The confirmation letter has not been given yet, so ethically and practically, the company cannot force him to serve the notice period.

2. Has he been given an appointment letter? Did the appointment letter contain all the terms and conditions of employment?

3. From that employee's point of view, it seems that he is insecure and afraid of whether the company will provide him with all relieving letters or not.

Now, coming to your point, the general scenario of quitting an organization on short notice or without notice is very common. To resolve this issue, most companies add a clause in the appointment letter stating that an employee must give a resignation notice of one month or 1 CTC in lieu of that if not serving the notice period.

We cannot, in any case, accommodate that employee and entertain him for 10 days as this would send a wrong message to other employees, potentially encouraging them to leave without notice.

In short, ask your accountant to either serve the notice period for one month or submit one CTC to receive all relieving letters. He does not have a third option.

For more details, you can contact me anytime.

Thank you, but can you tell me about the acts and rules regarding my question?

As per Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishment applicable to Gurgaon:

Section 23 – Notice by Employee

1. An employee who is in continuous service for three months shall terminate the service by giving a 30-day notice or notice pay.

(a) When an employee doesn’t serve the notice period or notice pay, the employer can forfeit unpaid wages equivalent to 30 days' pay.

Conclusion

The above section clearly states that the employee must give a 30-day notice or notice pay to terminate service. In case the employee fails to do so, the employer can forfeit 30 days' salary.

Regards,
Samy

The above discussion is fine. In practice, the appointment of an employee is a contractual agreement. There should be a clause stating that during the probationary period, if an employee wants to quit, they have to serve a one-month notice or pay a one-month salary. Hence, these are contractual obligations on the parties.

Regards,
Shettar

Dear Mr. Ashok Jingra, in response to your queries, you think that he is right as he has not been issued a confirmation letter; hence, the employer or management cannot insist on him serving the notice period. Even I feel ethically he is correct.

Termination Clause in Appointment Orders

When any organization issues an appointment order, it clearly mentions the points on the termination clause of employment from both parties during probation as well as after confirmation. Please find out from your end regarding the termination clause mentioned in the appointment order issued to him. If there is nothing clearly mentioned with respect to the notice period, then you are entitled to relieve him irrespective of the number of days' notice period served by him.

Also, you are advised to modify the clauses and policies to ensure employees clearly understand the separation process to avoid such situations, as a similar situation was once faced by me.

Regards,
Videet

It would have been even clearer and easier if you had stated the notice period of an employee under the probation period. If the letter states that 10 days of notice are sufficient during the probation period, then there is nothing you can do to hold onto the employee for a month's notice period.

I would say it's actually the mistake of the HR. After the completion of an employee's probation period, HR should get in touch with their reporting head or Department Head to find out if they are satisfied with the work the employee was doing during the probation period. If everything is well, then a confirmation letter should be issued to the employee. If the concerned head of the employee feels that the employee needs more training, then the probation period has to be extended, and later the confirmation letter should be issued.

Such practices leave a bad impression on the HR and their procedures. I feel that HR has to maintain updated documents to track when an employee completes his/her probation and what the next steps should be. Anyways, bygones are bygones. Just check the clause in his appointment letter for the probation period and proceed from there.

Regards,
Babu