Can You Really Be Automatically Relieved from Your Job? Let's Discuss the Real Impact on Employees

Dear all, I work in an office in a public sector bank. I got promoted to manager, and my new place of posting is Punjab Faridkot, which is very far from my current location, Bhopal. So, I refused the promotion. First, I want to ask, can one refuse a promotion? Is this right? Secondly, I want to ask about the transfer letter I received from the controlling office in which they wrote these words: "as such, you stand automatically relieved immediately with instruction to report at your new place of posting."

Discussion on the Use of "Automatic"

I want to discuss the use of the word "automatic" with human employees. When an employee cannot join automatically, how can he be relieved automatically?

Regards,

Dear Tarun, any Public Sector or Government employee who has received an appointment letter is clearly informed that they can be transferred anywhere in India for their job, a condition that you have already accepted. As an employee, you have the right to refuse a transfer. However, please note that until the government has a vacancy that interests you, you may be placed on forced leave without pay or with minimal pay. According to the transfer letter, the head office will automatically release you, and the person taking your place will be provided with a handover.

In Government HR, this practice is very common and has long been an accepted norm (though not accepted in private sectors). Therefore, if you reject a transfer, you may have to stay at home for some time until the government nominates you for another position.

Regards,
Ashutosh Thakre

Understanding Transferability in Employment

When you accept an appointment letter, it is inferred that the terms and conditions governing your category of employees in the company (in this case, a public sector bank) are also accepted by you in letter and spirit. This includes the clause of transferability. The employer can transfer their employees anywhere, and the employee is bound to accept such orders. This is the case with promotions involving transfers. The management is placing more confidence in you, and in turn, you should make every endeavor to contribute more to your employer. Upon accepting this order, you have no other alternative but to hand over charge to your reliever (as fixed by the bank) in your current location and take charge in your new location.

Thanks.

R K Nair

It's in vogue that in most organizations operating in more than one state, transfers cannot be refused as there always used to be a clause in the appointment letter to this effect. There is no option available to the employees. You can as well check your appointment letter for confirmation. The legality of such a clause has been upheld by various courts, including the Supreme Court (SC). However, employees can exercise their option to decline a promotion order attaching a consequential transfer only to some extent. Many ladies refuse such promotion transfers to ensure they are not transferred out of their state or place of domicile. This is common in banks, especially public sector banks. However, 'automatic relieving' without a formal handover of charge in banks is not commonly taking place. Yours is an extraordinary instance, I hope. However, you might as well submit a plea to the authorities concerned or through your union to post you to the nearest place, if not to retain you in the same place, on some convincing grounds which you might explain in detail therein with documents to support your plea to not forgo the hard-earned promotion.

While I am not an expert on Government Rules and Regulations, I can still make a couple of observations.

Like the other members pointed out, you have already given your okay for transfer to anywhere in India based on the bank's transfer policies when you accepted the Appointment Letter and joined this PSU Bank. You should have thought of the distance between Bhopal and Kashmir/Kanyakumari/Kutch/Nagaland—since technically you could be transferred anywhere between these extremes of the Indian map—when you signed and accepted the Appointment Letter.

Key Observation/Inference

Like Kumar S mentioned, your case does seem to be 'an extraordinary instance' with respect to the 'automatic relieving' clause in the Transfer Letter. Are you being very frugal with the truth—meaning, are you hiding the actual background of your case and only mentioning the current scenario? Generally, transfers with such conditionalities happen only if the concerned employee has repeatedly stonewalled any earlier transfers—by any means. What's the background in your case?

And I think it's also important to remember that 'proximity/distance' from the hometown is not an excuse/ground to refuse transfers.

Regards,
TS

First of all, please check the terms and conditions of your appointment letter as well as the company's policy on promotion and transfer. Once you do this, many of your queries will be answered. Each company has its promotion and transfer policy, which may vary from company to company, but the companies that have operations on an all-India basis will be more or less the same. The companies have the power to transfer any employee at their discretion. You have to check the company's policy on the refusal of promotion. It all depends; some companies debar the employees for a period of one year, while others may take disciplinary action for the refusal. I do not see anything wrong in using the word "automatically." The use of this word is made where promotion follows the transfer. Instead of giving two separate letters, one for promotion and another for transfer, it is a composite order for both. Sometimes it is mentioned that you are promoted as a manager and stand automatically transferred to Faridkot.

My advice is that please do not refuse promotion, and maybe after some period, you can make a representation for transfer or find someone who agrees with you for a mutual transfer. Equally, I want to share my experience that one should never accept promotion in situ because the persons who have grown up with you will not give you the respect on promotion but rather treat you as part of them.

Regards,
BS Kalsi