What Action Can Be Taken On Employee Who Break A Legal Bond?

Dear Team,

Please help us in understanding the procedure.

1. What steps can an employer take towards employees who break the bond?

2. Is there an HR site where we can blacklist an employee?

3. Any insights on retention?

Regards,
HR Department

Dear HRD,

Question 1 -

There are two ways an employee normally breaks the bond: either he/she absconds or serves a notice regarding unwillingness to discontinue the service. In either case, the Company reserves the right to initiate legal actions against the employee (provided the Employment Bond is made as per legal requirements, justifies the reason behind such a bond, and is accepted by the employee).

A copy of the bond or clauses included, if provided herewith, would have helped in validating the Employment Bond.

a) In case of absconding, the company is supposed to issue an Internal Memo to the employee, requesting him to report to duty immediately. If there is no response, a second Internal Memo should be sent, stating the violation regarding the standing instructions of the company, i.e., absenteeism, and requesting the employee to report back immediately. If there is no response again, a letter clearly explaining the clauses of the bond and threatening to take legal action against breaking the bond or pay the compensation mentioned thereof should be sent. All the above communication should be sent by registered post to the residence address with a copy to the 'surety' person stated in the bond.

b) Against the notice served by the employee, the company can issue an explanation letter clearly explaining the clauses of the bond, resulting in legal action against breaking the bond or paying the compensation mentioned thereof.

If the issue is not solved amicably, the company, through their legal department/lawyer, can start the legal proceedings.

The employee will not be issued a relieving letter or service certificate, disqualifying him from joining a potential new employer. Any background verification done against his name will be returned with negative feedback.

Question - 2,

At an organized level, there is no website where you can blacklist an employee. I am not sure if there are industry-specific (IT, Telecom, etc.) websites where employees in that particular sector can be blacklisted. The answer is NO.

Question - 3,

Retention is only necessary if the employee's expertise is required by the company until the end of the bond period or if he/she is associated with any project where his/her presence is essential for its completion.

I do not want to dwell too much on this subject as basically I do not believe in having a service contract signed by an employee unless there had been real training inputs. Or there can be contracts at the senior level for a three-year or five-year contract. However, regarding the term blacklist, I would like to caution that any publicity regarding an individual "blacklisting" him or her will mean an infringement of their fundamental rights. Sharing information between two organizations is perfectly okay. Still, making a public announcement on the same site is not desirable. As HR people, we should also think for a minute about what could happen to us if such information is publicized about us on a site. Thanks, Sivasankaran

Thank you for the information. I would also like to know the entire legal procedure. My company is currently seeking a strong Headhunter. If anyone is interested, please feel free to contact us.

H R