Is service bond legal in India?
Being an active lawyer for the past 22 years, I can tell you that no company can hold an employee to work against their will in this country. Having that said, if a company bears some expenses for your training/visa, etc, you are required to pay the amount to break even incase you depart before your time period.
You have the right to obtain an itemized list of expenses incurred during your training period. This is usually always lesser than the bond amount. If the company denies you list and your relieving letter--You can take them to court.
We recently worked on a case involving an employee having a 2 lakh 2 year bond with L&T. L&T refused to give a relieving letter to the employee after 1 year of service. After the employee asked for the expenses incurred, L&T instead gave the relieving letter without any fuss.
I would request all employees who would like to break their bonds to not pay the bond amount but ask for the exact expenses incurred by the company and pay that amount to get the relieving letter.
Regards
Dr. TSG
Being an active lawyer for the past 22 years, I can tell you that no company can hold an employee to work against their will in this country. Having that said, if a company bears some expenses for your training/visa, etc, you are required to pay the amount to break even incase you depart before your time period.
You have the right to obtain an itemized list of expenses incurred during your training period. This is usually always lesser than the bond amount. If the company denies you list and your relieving letter--You can take them to court.
We recently worked on a case involving an employee having a 2 lakh 2 year bond with L&T. L&T refused to give a relieving letter to the employee after 1 year of service. After the employee asked for the expenses incurred, L&T instead gave the relieving letter without any fuss.
I would request all employees who would like to break their bonds to not pay the bond amount but ask for the exact expenses incurred by the company and pay that amount to get the relieving letter.
Regards
Dr. TSG