Employee Resignation Without Notice: How to Handle Compensation and Settlement Policies?

Problem
I have one employee who has submitted their resignation without notice. Unfortunately, their offer letter doesn’t mention a notice period. This was my error. However, the same was conveyed verbally to them at the time of appointment.

Question
Am I obliged to pay them their entire compensation, or can I have them serve notice or take a 1-month salary compensation?

Problem
Also, there is a company policy of a 45-day full and final settlement window, which is not documented or communicated to the employees. Only after they resign do I tell them about this window.

Question
Am I sufficiently empowered to do so, or do I have to convey it to my employees in writing?

"However, the same was conveyed verbally to them at the time of appointment.

Verbal information has no real legal value if it gets contested or denied. Make an exception in this case and get the employee cleared. Do inform your senior management about the lapse and clear the matter. FNF has to be done so no point delaying an inevitable commitment."

If the Standing Order is not in place and accessible to the employees, and the clause is not mentioned in the letter, then you will have to clear the employee dues with no Notice Period. Having a policy that employees are unaware of or do not have access to will not help in enforcing it. The Standing Orders also need to be communicated and available to employees for easy reference.

Regards,
Ashutosh Thakre

Dear Paresh, Informal or uncommunicated information pertaining to an employer's policies or an employee's service has no relevance in the eyes of the law. So, neither your verbal information about the notice period nor uncommunicated information about the settlement window proposed to be communicated to the employee after his resignation has any relevance now. However, you can follow and insist the employee on following the requirement of the notice period, as prescribed in your state's establishment and commercial organizations Act.

For the future, you may include the necessary clauses in the appointment orders of the newly appointed employees. The policy document of the company should never be incomplete or defective.

Please find the remarks as per your query in BOLD
Legally the salary has to be paid/cleared within 7 days of the month completed/last working day. The FnF apart from salary has to be paid within 30 days from the last working day.

Nathrao has suggested the right thing. Just do a "JDI/Mini-kaizen" and correct similar goof-ups, if any, so that you can work peacefully. Such issues create a lot of confusion and can become a pain for HR if not tackled properly. So, clear it off as an "exception" after taking your management's approval.

Standing Orders Consideration

The question of standing orders comes into play only if your setup is a factory and where you do not have any other formalized agreement signed off with the associates.

Cheers,

A.B.