Appointment Letter Related

Hi Friends,
If a candidate doed not sign the appointment letter can he/she still liable to abide or bound to the rules or policies of an organization. Kindly advice.
thanks
Anamika Mitra

Dear Anamika,
You raised very important query. Appointment letter follows the offer letter. It contains the terms and conditions of the company applicable on the employees.
But it may be possible that the organisation diverts from the terms and conditions agreed upon with the concerned. However if all the negotiations and conditions are fair and cleared to the concerned employee, he must sign the official document. Refusal means misconduct on his/her part, for which company can take action.
Further, in spite of refusal to sign the appointment letter,all the conditions shall be applicable as mentioned in your Certified Standing Orders of the company.
Regards
Ramesh Bhardwaj

First, its a good idea to give the appointment letter on the joining date and not to delay the same for a later period.
If the employee refuses to sign the appointment letter (and there is no deviation from the offer letter), the employment must be terminated immediately.
However, the question then arises as to whether you gave him a letter, or you did not give the letter (and therefore he didnt sign) or whether you gave, he didnt bother to sign and return but didnt specifically state that he would not sign or that he has any objection to the points.
Again, there would be a difference if he has not even signed the offer letter.
So, please clarify which is the correct situation here.

Hello Anamika,

Perhaps my views differ a little to the earlier suggestions. In my opinion, if your Company is registered under Factories Act / Companies Act, then, there must be its own Certified Standing Orders or it must be following Model Standing Orders, as the case may be. These Standing Orders contain the Dos & Don'ts for each and every employee employed in the Company on which they apply. In some Companies there is separate set of rules for executives which they call Conduct, Discipline & Appeal (CDA) Rules.

Once an individual has accepted the offer of appointment, it is deemed that he has accepted and agreed to the terms and conditions of employment too, whether or not he has separately signed a document of acceptance. There is one line given in the appointment letters that "accepting the offer of appointment shall mean that you accept the terms and conditions of employment and shall abide by them". Even if this line is not there, joining after offer of appointment means the same, but I strongly recommend to make a mention of this statement in future offers, if not being done at present.

AK Jain

If he is a workman and has joined the company without signing the appointment letter, it can be inferred that he has implicitly agreed to abide by the standing orders/service rules of the company. If he is a non-workman, he has implicitly agreed to abide by the service rules of the company, since he cannot plead ignorance of rules that are currently governing the service conditions of non-workmen in the company.However a problem may arise when there do not exist standing orders or service rules and one's service conditions are governed by the terms of appointment letter only. Then the question is what governs his service conditions.For example, you want to transfer him to a different section or unit located at a different place and he opposes it. You may face a problem of enforcing the transfer. In that event, it is advisable to give him a letter spelling out the terms and conditions that are applicable to him with immediate effect under his acknowledgement.He will be bound by those terms from that day atleast..This is one option open to you.

B.Saikumar