Can You Claim Unpaid Salary After Termination for Background Check Issues? Urgent Help Needed

Hi, I have one case in which my relative has been terminated due to a background check failure. They were informed over the phone that they would be terminated. She worked for more than 20 days this month in the company, but the employer now refuses to settle this 20 days' salary. Additionally, no full and final settlement is being provided. Can this issue be taken to the labor court so that at least the 20 days' salary is recovered? Please reply urgently.

Please provide complete details of the issue to assist you in this matter. It is confirmed that no employer can stop the FNF of any employee. Even in the case of termination of any employee, the employer needs to process the FNF of the employee who is being terminated.

Hi, Not sure what details are required here, but to my knowledge, below are some points:

The background check has failed with respect to the previous employer where he was supposedly working. They are stating that as per company policy, in case of termination, no compensation will be given even if you have worked for 25 days in the present month. Normally, when someone is terminated, they receive at least one month's salary as compensation. However, in his case, he is not receiving the 25 days' salary for the time worked, let alone an extra month's salary as compensation. Consequently, he is considering taking this matter to the labor court.

Can the Company File a Case Against Him?

Can the company file a case against him for the background check failure once he goes to the labor court, perhaps as a form of revenge against him?

Thank you.

Background Check and Employment Termination

Generally, companies conduct a full background check before allowing an employee to join the organization. Please assess the seriousness of the falsified information provided. Was it from the CV or from the form that the employee must have filled out for the organization with a signature?

You have not specified the type of background check that has yielded negative results. It could be related to work experience, remuneration, designation, profile, etc. If the information was intentionally misrepresented to a significant degree, acknowledge this error and consider it a learning opportunity.

In case there were minor discrepancies, such as in performance feedback, behavior feedback, skills, and attitude feedback, you can address these with your current employer. Conduct a thorough evaluation to ensure that there are no major falsifications, like document tampering, involved.

Please provide more details regarding the reason for the background check failure.

Thanks.

Many companies are conducting employee verification before processing the offer letter. This is done in cases where an employee is still active in their previous organization and receives an offer from a new employer. The new employer clearly communicates in the offer, "This offer is valid subject to a positive reference check from the previous organization."

If an employee accepts an offer and joins the new company before completing further processes, they may not be eligible for the final settlement of the new employment.

Regards,
Sanjay Patel

Background Checks and Employment Termination

As has been mentioned by others, most companies conduct thorough background checks. Continuance of employment is always subject to a clean background reference check.

Also, it is pertinent to point out that obtaining a job by giving false declarations or providing incorrect information amounts to misrepresentation of facts.

For your information, there are court judgments to this effect as well. Recently, the Supreme Court also upheld the employer's right to dismiss its employee for giving a false declaration at the time of joining (Refer to the judgment of the Supreme Court in "Daya Sankar Yadav vs Union Of India & Ors" dated 24 November 2010 given by a two-Judge Bench).

Legal Implications of Background Check Failures

Regarding your question on whether the company can file a case for the failure of the background check, my view is that the company would be well within its rights to claim, as its defense, that the job was obtained by false pretenses and hence they terminated the employee. I am not sure whether wages for 20 days worked would be payable or not, primarily because employment would have been conditional upon a positive background reference check. You also need to be cognizant of the fact that the company may choose to make an example of this case and fight it out in court till the bitter end (which could turn out to be very expensive for your relative) just to demonstrate to its existing and prospective employees that they do not tolerate any falsification of information.

For what it is worth, I would suggest that it might be simpler to move on and look for another employment opportunity instead of litigating against the company.

Regards,
Raju Bhatnagar

The company should not have given an offer letter without obtaining a positive report. It is not appropriate to appoint a person and then dismiss them later based on a negative report, especially when the employee had prior work experience elsewhere.

Regards,
Varghese Mathew
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