Dismissal Letters: Is There a Legal Time Frame for Issuing Them to Employees?

Hello dear counsellors,

What is the specific time period within which the dismissed employee should be given the dismissal letter? Is there any binding time period for that? Can the employee go to court regarding non-receipt of his dismissal letter? Please clarify.

With regards,
Keshava

Normally, there is a 30-day period, but it depends on the appointment letter conditions and terms of employment. Furthermore, it also depends on the company policy.

Zafar

Hi Keshav,

From your post, I was not able to determine whether you belong to the manufacturing, services, IT, or ITES industry. If you are part of the manufacturing industry, issuing a dismissal order to an employee is a sensitive issue. Even MNCs and powerful employers in India have faced serious repercussions following dismissals. It is advisable to adhere to the prevailing Industrial Relations Act. Do you have registered standing orders or rules of conduct for your organization? Have you issued a charge sheet and conducted a domestic inquiry?

When issuing a dismissal letter, an employee can approach the labor court, so it is recommended to consult a labor lawyer before taking any steps. If the employee is part of a labor union, it is essential to communicate with the office bearers as well and strive for consensus.

Best of luck.

I think your question is itself wrong. There are two modes of termination of services of any employee either orally or in writing.
Law does not permit oral termination and in case of written termination as in your case, before issuing the dismissal letter to the concerned employee you need to conduct the disciplinary enquiry in the charges in which your company is wishing to terminate him.
I can suggest alternate remedies if u can provide the following details:-
• Whether he was permanent employee
• Post held
• Reason for dismissal.
Regards
Prasad

Hi Keshav,

Why do you want to delay in serving the dismissal letter? In fact, there should not be any delay for whatsoever reason. Even if some reasonable delay has occurred due to some valid reason, no further delay should take place. There is no period prescribed by law on this point, but this issue shall come up for judicial scrutiny if the dismissed employee approaches the court of law against the dismissal order. So, keeping in mind the attitude of the judiciary, the management should not delay at all in issuing the dismissal letter. Delay indicates many things to the judiciary. It may mean that you wanted to scare the employee and wanted him to come to his senses; management had a serious concern for his family members because he is the only bread earner for his family; management wanted to enlarge the impact of dismissal by withholding the issue of the dismissal letter for a long time, and so on. So, you have to consider all the reasons which the court will also look into. Management has no legal right to keep an employee on tenterhooks by delaying the issue of the dismissal letter. In my opinion, unreasonable delay would definitely go against the management, and the dismissal may be revoked by the court because the court is pro-employee when it comes to the dismissal of an employee unless the reasons for dismissal are very strong and genuine.

I hope I have been able to answer your query. If you still need further clarification on this issue, you may revert back to this forum. I shall be glad to enlighten you further.

Regards,

Yours Truly,

Citemember HR,

SATISH KUMAR

SR. MANAGER (HR)

NTPC Foundation, Noida

We have sent the dismissal letter after ten months of dismissal to the employee as he had continuously requested for the status of his employment. He has not been permitted to enter the factory for many months.

Can he go to the labor court? I have just been promoted to the Senior Manager's post. Please clarify.

Hi,

The law does permit dismissal with a notice of at least 30 days or an equivalent amount in lieu of 30 days' notice. It can be more than 30 days of notice if the appointment letter specifies so. If an employee is on probation and, as per the appointment letter, can be terminated without any notice during this period.

Do let me know if you would like to know more.

Regards,
sansum05@gmail.com