Can We Legally Hold Salary if an Employee Leaves Without Notice? Seeking Clarification

Dear Seniors,

I wanted to seek a small clarification regarding salary hold. If an employee leaves an organization without serving the notice period and on unfavorable terms, can we hold their salary or choose not to pay at all? If we can withhold the salary, what is the maximum duration for which we can keep it on hold?

Thank you.

Understanding Salary Hold

By the term "salary hold," do you mean choosing not to draw the salary or holding the payment of salary after it has been drawn? Both scenarios are different.

For your information, salary must be drawn for the duty period of the employee. However, payment can be withheld for the purpose of full and final (F&F) settlement, particularly if the charge of the post or some assets of the company have not been properly handed over by the employee, or if recovery becomes due on account of notice period pay. Non-drawal of salary would result in incorrect accounting for the purpose of depicting true results of the company's profit and loss and for auditing accounts.

Examples of bad grounds need to be elaborated before any suggestion can be given.