Am I Entitled to One Month's Salary If My Employer Waived My Notice Period?

Hi, recently, due to personal reasons, I have resigned from my job. In my resignation letter, I mentioned that I am ready to serve the 2 months' notice period as per the company policy. However, management accepted my resignation immediately and informed me that I do not need to serve the notice period, allowing me to leave effective from the next day.

Offer Letter Clause

When I joined, my offer letter included the following point: "In case of you leaving the service of the company after confirmation; you shall do so only after giving one month notice in writing. The company also reserves the right to terminate your service with one month's notice or salary in lieu thereof."

In my situation, I was prepared to serve the notice period, but the company instructed me to leave effective from the next day. In this scenario, am I eligible to receive the one month's salary from my employer?

Please advise.

Dear Essa,

There is a catch here. You offered to resign after serving a two-month notice period, as per your letter of appointment, but the company wants to use its discretion to waive the notice period and wants you to leave the service from the next day, probably to avoid paying salary for two months. You do not have much to complain against the company. If you want the company to pay you the two months' salary, it can do so only when it does not accept your resignation but terminates you without notice. Thus, you may run the risk of your resignation being turned into termination, which I feel should be avoided in the interest of your career.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Consultant
Chipinbiz Consultancy Pvt. Ltd
Mumbai
Tel: [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Understanding Your Rights When Asked to Leave Immediately

Are you a confirmed staff member? Have you been asked to resign by the company earlier? Have they given you any extension of probation or performance targets? Have you been offered a position by another company?

Normally, any company will not let go of an employee if they resign due to various factors such as new recruitment, handover, clearing dues, retention, etc. (Mostly, they don't want the employee to leave happily—just kidding, but that is the reality in many companies).

I hope your company is a proprietorship.

Since you have been asked to leave immediately, either your performance (don't take it personally) is not good or does not match their requirements, or they are looking to save costs (reduce manpower), or they simply see no reason to keep a person who has resigned (common in proprietorship companies).

However, you are entitled to your notice period amount.

If you have been offered a position by another company, you can file a complaint with the labor department by providing your Date of Joining (DOJ) and notice period. Ensure that your DOJ is at least 1 month. You can also request the new company to advance your DOJ if you are not willing to pursue legal action against your current employer.

If you have resigned without any other job offer, you can send a legal notice or complaint to the labor department to claim your notice period amount.

Please let me know if you need further clarification or assistance.

Regards

Employment Notice Period and Resignation Terms

As per the terms of your employment, you are required to give one month's notice before leaving the company or pay salary in lieu thereof. The organization has the right to waive off the notice period, accept your resignation, and relieve you on any day.

In another scenario, the organization is required to give one month's notice or pay salary in lieu thereof before terminating your service. In such circumstances, you, as the employee, have the choice to accept this notice or leave the company before completing the notice period. If a company has terminated the services of an employee and given a one-month notice, the employee can ask for early relieving as the company has already made the decision, and it was not initiated by the employee.

In my opinion, you cannot claim anything against the company. Legally, they are safe.

Regards,
Lokender

If you have received an offer from a company with a clause stating that you can receive two months' salary in lieu of notice, then you need to ask the company to pay you the two months' salary. Otherwise, you have the right to take legal action.

Regards,

What you're thinking is not right. In your case, your company has done you a favor by relieving you on the date of your resignation so that you could join early in your next job (I hope so). Otherwise, you could clarify with your company before being relieved. In some cases, if the employee is not a key person for the business, the company may accept the resignation on the same day. So, my advice is not to go to any labor authorities as suggested by somebody else. In some cases, one should overlook clauses in the agreement for mutual benefit; otherwise, sustaining in this world is not easy.

I hope you take this advice positively.

With Regards,
Valli Basha Sab.

Dear Essa, If your appointment letter clearly specifies a notice period of two months or salary in lieu from either side, but at the same time, the employer, at their own discretion, waived the notice period without any request from your end, then they are legally bound to pay the notice period to you. As HR professionals, we should know our rights first; only then can we stand for justice in our profession and act as balanced individuals.

Regards,
Satheesh

It is clearly stated in your appointment letter that if you want to leave the company, you need to give notice. However, if the company accepts your notice and terminates your appointment, they have to pay you one month's salary. If you wish to leave the job with immediate effect, then you have to deposit one month's pay to the company. Therefore, you can legally claim your salary for the said period from the company.

Regards

Dear Lokender, if the company wants you to leave starting from the next day, you can accept the same. This is better for you.

Regards,
Dnyaneshwar Panchal

Legal Liability for Notice Pay

A company can be legally liable to pay notice pay when it terminates you. If you have resigned of your own accord, it lies with the company to accept your resignation with immediate effect or prolong your relieving to enter the notice period. If you serve the entire notice period, then you will be paid for the same only.

Regards,
J.N. Singh

Understanding Resignation and Notice Period Policies

If the company wishes to accept your resignation before the effective date of resignation given by you, it can be termed illegal. If you are willing, the company has to pay you the notice pay as expressed in the appointment letter.

Regards