Was I Wronged by an Unexpected Notice Period Waiver? Seeking HR and Legal Advice

Dear All,

While I had opted to serve the complete notice period of 60 days on the company exit tool, I was given a relieving date 30 days from the date of my resignation. Please note that I did not ask for a notice period waiver at any point in time. While I was being relieved early, my manager told me that I would be paid for the complete 60 days of the period and that he had discussed it with HR. However, I only got paid for 30 days as my relieving date was set for 30 days from my resignation instead of 60 days.

Notice Period/Relieving Clause

Also, for your reference, here is what my appointment letter said about the notice period/relieving:

"Notice Period / Pay: During the period of probation, your services may be terminated by either party giving the other one (1) month's notice or Basic Salary in lieu thereof. After confirmation and thereafter, your services may be terminated by either party giving two (2) months' notice or Basic Salary Cash in lieu thereof. The management, however, reserves the right to (i) waive the applicable notice and relieve you immediately upon paying you the Basic salary in lieu of the said notice period or (ii) insist that you serve the company during the notice period in full or in part thereof, instead of accepting from you, salary in lieu of the said notice period."

Seeking Legal/HR Expertise

I need your legal/HR expertise to help me understand the point # (2) (i) & (ii) as above and figure out if it supports me if:

- I claim compensation for the remaining 30 days of my notice period that I could not serve owing to the part waiver (without having asked for any waiver)?

Please note, I have not joined any other job yet, and this is not a matter of greed but simply fighting a system if I have been wronged or misled. I will be grateful for your valuable and sound advice on my future course of action.

Thanks.

Understanding Resignation and Notice Period Waivers

In general, when an employee resigns, the company has the right to accept the resignation with immediate effect or with a partial notice period. They will not be liable to pay any compensation for the waiver. However, in your case, the appointment letter states that they will pay you the basic pay for a full waiver. Logically, they should also pay you for a partial waiver. You can address this matter with your HR department and your manager.

However, is the amount significant? If not, don't consider taking any legal steps or complaining to the Labor Officer. Doing so may only end up harming your future career as the company could provide a negative reference in the future.

Regards,

Probation or Confirmed Employee?

Were you on probation or a confirmed employee? From your presentation, it appears that you are a confirmed employee. In such a case, the systemic failure indicated your notice period as 30 days erroneously. As you were aware of the fact that the system had indicated a wrong date at the time of expressing your intention to serve the full notice period of 60 days, in my opinion, you ought to have brought it to the attention of concerned persons in your organization.

Clarification on Notice Period

When your manager told you that you would get 60 days' compensation, at least at that point, you could have alerted him about the wrong date of relieving indicated by the exit tool. Having been relieved without seeking clarification before the exit, it appears that you want to fix the problem after it is beyond repair.

Worth Fighting?

As our senior member has indicated, it may not be worth fighting it out now. Many companies reserve the right to waive the notice period and still don’t pay a penny for the waiver period.

Regards,
M.V. Kannan

Notice Period and Salary Compensation

I wish to bring to your notice that even though the company reserves the right to waive off the notice period fully or partially, they are bound to pay the basic salary in lieu of the notice period as stated in the employment contract. This could be claimed by sending a request stating the above clause in your appointment letter along with your plan for serving the full notice period as a responsible employee of the organization.

In my opinion, no employer can simply waive off the notice period by not paying the salary in lieu of the notice period, which is legally not tenable, even though it is practiced in some organizations. A one-sided contract is not valid.

However, this could have been discussed with your HR before relieving for a settlement as per the appointment terms and conditions. I feel no management wants to get into such a problem that may affect the reputation of the organization. It becomes the duty of the HR people to do a fair and just settlement considering legal and other situational factors.

Regards,
Arlkrishna

Please go through the posts on this forum discussed earlier. Legally, it is open to the company to waive off the notice period and not pay notice pay. This stands scrutiny under legal jurisprudence and the law of contract.