Facing Legal Threats from My Former Employer Over Alleged Losses – Need Urgent Advice!

I worked with an organization for approximately 19 months and resigned due to delayed salary payments, with salaries being paid after three months. My resignation was accepted via email, and I was asked to leave the office premises with the assurance of assistance if needed. I did not follow up on my pending salaries, but yesterday I received a notice from an advocate, attached herein, stating that my alleged failure to perform resulted in a loss of approximately INR 30,00,000. The notice demands the deposit of the same within 7 days, threatening criminal action otherwise.

I urgently seek your guidance on this matter.

Regards,
Vipin Pandey
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]; [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

You have resigned, and the same has been accepted by them, so there is no need to worry. You may use the email as proof of evidence and acceptance from the management. Ask them why they accepted the resignation if they had a problem with your relieving. Take a printout of their acceptance email and send it by courier to the advocate with an explanation in his letter.

You haven't mentioned the time gap between when you resigned and left and this notice. If it's high—maybe over a couple of months—then you may as well mention that aspect too in your reply to the notice.

However, I would like to view this in a different way—other than the way Aditya mentioned [replying to the notice]. For all I know, this could be a ruse to see what cards you hold in your hands if they go legal. In which case, you would only be opening yourself to more legal headaches [not trouble]. I suggest consulting a lawyer before replying legally. Quite often, what's very apparent and logical from a layman's perspective could be a big mistake legally.

There also seem to be some gaps in what you mentioned—I only hope you are not hiding some facts of the case. For example, you worked there for 19 months and you mentioned you get salaries after 3 months. Is this regular right from 19 months? Or has this been a recent situation? And is this common to all employees? You have also not mentioned your designation.

The mention of 30 L by the advocate sounds preposterous—from one angle. But from another angle, it leads to suggest that there's something else to the whole issue.

Regards,
TS

I accept other views. As you have a very short time of 7 days for the Advocate's notice, immediately consult an Advocate to send a professionally drafted reply to avoid consequences.

Regards,
Narayanan

Dear Sir, Thank you for your attention. Please find below the reply which you asked as given point-wise.

- I resigned on 28th Feb 2014, and they asked me to leave on 1st of March 2014.
- I received this notice on 29th August 2014.
- I joined there on 17/7/2012 as a Manager Operations, and they promoted me to Branch Manager with a salary hike of 1.2 L per annum. I joined there with INR 45000/ per month, and after appraisal, it was INR 55000/ per month.
- Yes, every staff gets a salary late over there, even they also sent the same letter to some managers as well.

I hope the above is in order, feel free to ask me anything.

Best Wishes, Vipin Pandey [Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

As advised by other contributors, it is better to take the trouble of sending a professionally drafted reply now than to repent later. Please recollect all information with available supporting documents before discussing the matter with advocates. Just remember that only you can fight your case, and the advocates are only there as facilitators.

I still suggest that after giving a reply to the legal notice, try to come to an amicable solution by discussing the issue with the management. All the best.

You have received a lawyer's notice, not a court notice, so don't panic. Speak directly to the management to understand their expectations and try to settle the matter amicably.

Regards,
Sharath
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

I agree with Mr. Narayanan's views. I had a similar experience, and I used an advocate's help to reply to the legal notice from the company. All the best!

Regards,
Narayan