Navigating Reimbursement Declarations: Is It Ethical to Provide a No-Entitlement Letter?

Hi All, An employee is requesting a letter from our company (Pvt Ltd), stating that she is not entitled to medical reimbursement, LTA, and school fee reimbursement from our company. She wants to submit this to her husband's company, which is a government entity.

Questions Regarding Employee Reimbursement Declaration

I have three questions here:

1. Is this practice common in government companies? If so, why is this declaration necessary?

2. Our pay structure includes LTA and Medical Allowances. While no reimbursements are given, these figures are utilized to reduce TDS for employees. Would it be ethical for me to provide such a letter?

3. If I do issue this letter, could it lead to any future problems for the company?

Regards, Kavitha

Apologies, but this sounds fishy to me. Is her husband trying to raise a bill for her at his organization? Please investigate and understand why she needs it. I request you not to sign any document stating an incorrect account of the benefits provided by your company.

Regards,
(Cite Contribution)

If the husband has provided the details of his spouse in his office as an employee in another organization, the government will require a self-declaration from the spouse's company. This declaration is for Children Education Allowance/Reimbursement of Tuition Fee (only one is eligible), Medical Expenditure, and LTA, which have not been availed by the spouse of the government employee during the calendar year in which the employee claims. This practice is common in government offices (I have even obtained such declarations from my colleagues for processing the LTC (Leave Travel Concession) of employees whose spouses are working).

As mentioned by Ms. (Cite Contribution), please verify with the organization that requested a certificate for not availing the facilities of LTA, CEA/RTF, and Reimbursement of Medical Expenditure.

If the same is paid as an allowance, you can issue a certificate stating that your organization has considered this and added it to the CTC or gross pay of the employee; hence, your organization does not adopt the reimbursement system.

This approach ensures your employee feels that you have responded promptly. Delaying could result in one employee tarnishing the entire reputation of the HR Department.

All the best.

This sounds new to me. I have not come across it so far. Here's my question: doesn't this pose a threat that can be contested by the one who signs the document? What safeguards the HR who signs it?

Regards,
(Cite Contribution)

Dear Ms. (Cite Contribution), good morning and have a great day ahead. As a matter of fact, I am only advising Ms. Kavitha to provide the actuals for whatever the employees' eligibility/entitlement is being paid through the salary and nothing else. The purpose of requesting such documentation is to prevent duplicate payments for the same journey, medical treatment, or CEA/RTF, whatever it may be.

By providing only genuine information and not manipulated or fabricated data, HR need not fear any legal issues such as fraudulent claims. The certificate from HR should outline the details of the employees' eligibility/entitlement without mentioning any payments to the employee's spouse. This allows the receiving end to interpret the information and make decisions as they see fit.

Thank you.

Thank you, (Cite Contribution) and Bhaskar, for your suggestions. Your inputs have given me some idea as to what I should do. I will update you guys if anything else crops up.

Thanks and Regards,
Kavitha V. Rao

There are two aspects to your question. The first aspect is about her entitlement, for which her appointment letter needs to be referred to. The second aspect is that yes, some government organizations do ask for such an undertaking from employees to prevent one single family from having double benefits. If a spouse receives benefits, the other spouse will not. Therefore, ask the lady to compare the benefits provided by her and her husband's company, determine which benefit is more advantageous, and issue her a certificate for the benefit she will avail from her husband's company.

I hope it's clear now.

Regards,
Nitu

Government Regulations and Employee Benefits

Government and government companies still have outdated rules and regulations that they are finicky and fussy about following strictly rather than in spirit. When claiming certain benefits, they ensure that the same benefits are not claimed by a working spouse through their employer, hence the insistence on such certificates.

There is no harm in issuing certificates that endorse facts and truth to assist your employees. I have been routinely issuing such certificates every year to certain employees. There is nothing suspicious about this, despite what some members may suspect.

Request for a Letter of Non-Entitlement

An employee is requesting a letter from our private company (Pvt Ltd), stating that she is not entitled to medical reimbursement, LTA, and school fee reimbursement from our company. She needs this letter for submission to her husband's government company.

I have three questions here:
1. Is this a common practice for government companies? If so, why is this declaration required?
2. Our pay structure includes LTA and Medical Allowances, though no reimbursements are provided; these figures are used to reduce TDS for employees. Would it be ethical for me to provide such a letter?
3. If I do provide this letter, could it pose any future problems for the company?

Regards,
Kavitha