Terminated for Misconduct: Should We Provide a Relieving and Experience Letter?

Termination and Request for Relieving and Experience Letters

One of the employees in our organization has been terminated due to poor performance as well as bad conduct (the main cause for termination is bad conduct and misconduct on-site and with women). Now the puzzle is that the employee is requesting a relieving letter and an experience letter.

Based on my knowledge and after reviewing previous posts in the forum regarding the same issue, I believe he should not be given a relieving letter as we terminated him due to bad conduct.

Kindly let me know if we can issue a relieving letter and an experience letter. I would also appreciate it if someone could guide me on the process to be followed in such a case.

Thanks in advance,

Raj

You can just give him a letter for the work done and not mention anything about his conduct. The new employer will be able to understand it.

Thanks,
Flora

Issuing a Relieving Letter: Best Practices

You have to give a relieving letter as a good administrative practice.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai

You can issue a relieving letter and an experience letter. When mentioning the reason for leaving, it should be stated as: "Terminated from employment due to misconduct."

It depends on HR how they handle the situation of the employee. If the employee is admitting their fault and not causing any problems, then HR can issue them the letter. There is no rule stating that the letter should not be issued.

Regards,
Dash

You can issue a relieving letter and an experience letter. You can mention the reason for leaving as: "Terminated from employment due to misconduct."

What is the use of a relieving letter when the reason is mentioned as "terminated due to misdemeanor"? If that is the case, no employee will ask for a letter. Besides this, how can another employer recruit the person by seeing the note of "Terminated from employment due to misconduct" in the relieving letter?

As all and sundry do have humanity, on humanitarian grounds, we can issue the relieving letter. Otherwise, it is tough to get a job under such circumstances. Also, we should not be a cause for him as he would not be able to get a job.

Regards,
Kranthi

Appreciate the suggestions. But why should we consider humanity grounds when an employee forgets their work ethics and misbehaves with the opposite gender?

Furthermore, if we ignore the word "terminated" and issue a relieving letter, then what's the difference between termination and relieving? I am of the opinion that the employee should be punished for the misconduct, and non-issuance of a relieving letter itself shall convey it.

Dear seniors, kindly share your thoughts.

Thanks.

Hi, we can issue an internal memo to an employee in case of a misdemeanor. Despite the issuance of repeated memos, if the behavior persists, you can terminate the employee with immediate effect. I am sure the employee will disown the letter if it mentions the reason as "Terminated due to bad conduct."

Regards,
Kranthi

I am not an HR expert. However, I am good at searching the web for any information that I require. I was of the view that an employee is entitled to receive a termination letter. Whether the employee uses it or not is up to them. The same goes for an experience letter. I wonder why both of them cannot be combined.

I searched the web and found a sample letter at http://jobsearch.about.com/od/morejo...tionletter.htm and https://www.citehr.com/2308-format-t...on-letter.html.

The best way is to amicably take a "Resignation Letter" from the person concerned and relieve him in the regular course from employment. You can also give him a Service Certificate for the period of work. Please do not write any unwanted comments. If you still feel Conduct certification need not be forming part of Service Certificate. If you try to jump to the ceiling, you may just have to spend additional time conducting inquiry meetings, etc. If it goes to court of law, it becomes more painful for you to handle the case. Just call him; warn him; collect a Resignation Letter; relieve him with immediate effect. Simple as such. Life is simple as long as you do not complicate it.

Best Wishes,

Regards

You can issue an experience letter for the services rendered by the person.

Legal Considerations for Termination

From a legal standpoint, if you need to terminate a permanent employee, you must first issue a warning letter and allow the employee to respond within 10 to 15 days. If the response is unsatisfactory, you can appoint a neutral party (a lawyer) to listen to both sides and provide their perspective. Based on this, you will need to decide whether to retain the employee or not. Simply issuing a termination letter will not suffice; in fact, it may lead to further complications.

If the termination has already taken place, you can provide an experience letter.

I kindly request you not to act in haste.

Regards,
Ravi.

Termination and Relieving Letter Dilemma

If you terminate an employee for misconduct by passing an appropriate order, where does the question of relieving him arise? When you terminate an employee for misconduct, you cannot say "I will not relieve you." Both actions are self-contradicting. However, you need to provide a service certificate for the period of service he rendered to your company, as Mr. Suresh and Ravi have suggested.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai

First of all, if you have terminated the employee by following a disciplinary procedure, then you cannot issue him a Relieving Letter because the Termination Letter itself states that your service has been terminated with immediate effect, which means the employment of the delinquent employee ceases to exist after the issuance of the termination letter. Hence, it is not logical to issue a Relieving Letter.

Further, if you have just asked the employee to submit his resignation letter (which mostly happens), then it is imperative to issue him the Relieving as well as Experience Letter. In such a case, please ignore the suggestion posted above that you should mention the remark "Job terminated due to misconduct" in the Relieving/Experience Letter.

You must appreciate that HR also plays the role of a rehabilitator, and by writing such a 'remark' in the Relieving Letter, you will destroy the career of a person forever as he will never be able to find a good job anywhere since termination happened due to misconduct. No employer would like to recruit a person whose service has been terminated due to misconduct. However, if you feel that the employee was mischievous and deserves to suffer even after the termination of his job from your company, then you are free to make that decision.

Regards,
Rakesh Pd Srivastav, Jaipur

If the employee has been terminated due to integrity issues (Theft/Misbehavior), you can provide the relieving letter mentioning the reason for the termination. The individual may not disclose this letter to their future employer, or they might forge a new relieving letter using your company's letterhead. However, when you are asked for background verification, you should clearly state the reason.

If the termination is due to poor job performance, you can issue a general relieving letter emphasizing the individual's good conduct.

Nowadays, this scenario is less common as companies often request employees to resign and seek other opportunities. Remember, if you hire this employee based on their strong performance at their previous company.

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

Best regards,
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