Employee Absconded After Resignation: Should We Provide Release and Experience Letters?

Can anyone help me out? I am working as an Asst. HR Manager with one of the IT companies. One of our employees, who has worked with us for more than 3 years, has resigned. We have a notice period of 2 months, but after 15 days, as he wanted to join somewhere else, he has absconded without serving the proper notice period and other exit formalities. In this case, we have sent across the full and final letter with a cheque after calculating unserved notice deductions, etc. Now, he is visiting our office saying he wants his other letters—the release and experience letters—or else he will go to the labor court. If we give him the letters, this may send the wrong message to employees who serve their proper notice, or new employees may not serve the proper notice. Please confirm what can be done in this matter.

Also, we have helped him process his PF formalities.

The earliest reply will always be appreciated.

Regards,
Vishakha

Do you have written communication between your organization and the employee stating that he only needs to serve 15 days as he needs to join the new organization?

You can issue him a relieving order clearly mentioning that he has not served the full notice period. From what I understand, you have adjusted the remaining notice period salary from the dues payable to him.

Regards,
KK

Thanks all..

Yes, I have proof that he has not served the notice period fully, and we have adjusted his leaves as well as the notice period and accordingly paid him a cheque of Rs. 200. Now, after 4 months, he visited our office and is asking for letters. I just wanted to know if, as an organization, we are right in not giving him letters. If he approaches labor, we may have to provide the same. In that case, it would be better if I issue the same to him now instead of getting trapped into legal and other case-related issues.

Regards,

I am a retired academic and not an HR expert. Hence, here is a question and some comments. What does "rel and exp.. letter" refer to? Does it stand for Relieve and Experience? If so, like KKNair has suggested, issue it with all the info.

Litigation is neither good for the company nor the candidate. In the letter, you can clearly state what has transpired. Let me give a different example of how two professors gave letters when a student finished a course and asked for reference letters. One wrote a very brief letter stating that the student was studious, did well, and was fit to work in both industry or pursue higher studies. The other, the Head of the Faculty, wrote more than a page, providing all unnecessary information about when the student joined and from where, etc. The former could be used by the student when applying for jobs, while the latter had to be discarded as it was worthless. Employers do not have time to read a cock and bull story.

If you want to be nice, follow the professor's way; if you want to be nasty, follow the Head of the Faculty's approach.

While working in the industry, when a clerical staff member who worked for me asked for a certificate, I followed the professor's way. I wrote that the employee was a very effective and efficient worker, and I would hire her anytime, wherever I may work.

The solution is well-articulated by K. K. Nair Ji and Nashbramhall Sir. Issuing a Relieving & Experience Letter to such an employee in the manner suggested by K. K. Nair Ji will not send the wrong message to employees who exit with complete formalities. It will serve as a lesson for all employees.

In my view, you can do one more thing. You can simply merge the Relieving & Experience Letter and provide only one letter to such an employee. This way, he will not be able to conceal the way he changed his job, and in the future, employers will be aware that this can also happen to them. Send this letter to him through Registered AD Post only so that you will have proof of it.

Issuing Relieve and Experience Letters

The solution is well-articulated by K K Nair Ji and Nashbramhall Sir. Issuing a Relieve and Experience Letter to such an employee in the manner suggested by K K Nair Ji will not send the wrong message to employees who complete their formalities. It will serve as a lesson for all employees.

In my view, you can do one more thing: you can simply merge the Relieve and Experience Letter and provide only one letter to such an employee. By doing this, he will not be able to hide the way he has changed his job, and future employers will be aware that this can be done to them as well. Send this letter to him through Registered AD Post only so that you will have proof of it.

Thanks for your valuable time and comments. The only reason to ask this was to ensure that tomorrow he does not go to labor authorities and claim that we have not completed the formalities. As I have seen in past experiences, labor authorities tend to side with the employee. Therefore, I will give him the letters. Adding a note: It is to be noted that the employee needs to improve upon his compliance with the company's policies.

If letters are issued, then all employees might abscond and then go to labor authorities. I hope this suffices for what we want to do. I also wanted to know whether during verification, I need to mention that he has not given sufficient notice and not completed exit formalities.

Regards,