Terminated Me Without Notice And Final Settlement

After working for 50 days, the newly appointed VP verbally fired me without any prior notice or warning. He simply informed me, stating the reason as "no job for you," and instructed me not to come from the following day onwards, assuring that my payment would be transferred to my account. This occurred on the 9th of February. Up until being terminated, I had not received my January salary. After waiting for a few days, I wrote an email to the HR department, informing them that I had been fired and expressing that I had not yet received my full and final settlement. The VP then called me to come to the office and sign the necessary documents for settling the account. To my surprise, upon visiting the VP along with HR, I was instructed not to use terms like "Fire" or "Termination," and was provided with a pre-formatted resignation letter and an "undertaking." As a skilled operator familiar with my work, I refused to sign the resignation letter and undertaking. The VP persisted in requesting my signature, assuring that the money would be transferred to my account after a few days, to which I simply replied, "NO."

Work Conditions and Compensation

According to the interview conducted by their manager:
1. My official timing was 10 am to 6 pm (Monday to Saturday).
2. Compensation for Extra Hours

When this VP joined in January, he changed the timing to 10 am to 7 pm and extended the workweek to 6 days. Despite working diligently as a responsible individual, I faced immense pressure from the VP to deliver work within extremely tight deadlines, often as short as 2.5 hours for each task. I had already expressed that meeting such deadlines was unrealistic for quality work, as the tasks typically required more than 3-4 hours. Consequently, we ended up working more than 10 hours each day, even accommodating work-from-home requests. The company maintained online attendance records but did not provide salary slips reflecting the payment details. I only received my January payment after being terminated on the 11th of January, discovering that there was no compensation for the extra hours worked. I promptly raised this issue with HR.

Settlement and Legal Considerations

Upon discussing this with the VP, he assured me of my full and final settlement. However, after an additional 50 days of waiting, I received a call from the VP instructing me to collect my full and final settlement check. To my surprise, the amount was only equivalent to 9 days of salary. When inquiring about the additional compensation for extra hours worked and the notice period, he refused to pay anything beyond the 9 days, citing that the amount was as per my "Letter of Intent." I was supposed to receive an appointment letter within 7 days of joining, which I never received. Despite numerous inquiries to the HR manager, the response remained that it would come from their head office in another city. The "Letter of Intent" was described as equivalent to the "Appointment Letter."

My question is: Can I take legal action against them to claim compensation and damages as per the applicable law? The office is located in Gurgaon.

What is happening with you is quite unfortunate. You have confused yourself with the roughshod treatment by the VP and non-payment of the wages. You may make a formal complaint at the labor office in your area for non-payment of wages. When approaching the labor office, bring evidence with you that you were an employee of that company and about the non-payment of wages.

Let us see what transpires in the meeting with the labor officer. Come back to the forum thereafter. We will guide you again.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Thank you for your suggestion. Please clarify the term "Confused Yourself" as I did not understand the point. The Vice President actually treated me like a bonded laborer, displaying inhuman behavior by pressuring me to complete the work within the stipulated time they had set. As a human being, it is not possible to deliver any work under such circumstances. I intend to approach the labor court to file a lawsuit against them. Should I also file a complaint with the local police?

Thanks

Dear Sumo2016,

Well, gentlemen, I recommend that you do not get emotional. Giving roughshod treatment to subordinates is one thing, and non-payment of wages is another. Do you have concrete evidence for the former? If you get into litigation, the case will drag on for years, and unnecessarily it will divert your attention. As written in my earlier reply, make a complaint to the labor office for non-payment of wages and move on.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Waste of time.

You are liable for 9 days' salary. If you have any written communication from your office stating not to come to duty and notice period clause in your LOI, then you can lodge a complaint with the Assistant Labour Commissioner. My strong suggestion is to look for a better job and be peaceful.

Still non-payment of wages. I demanded that they pay for the extra hours of work done by me, including the work done from home, compensate for holidays as they didn't give me any holidays during those 50 days, etc. Am I eligible to make the same demand?

Thanks for your reply. Yes, it's a waste of time. I wasted 50 days working there but am happy to get fired as I believe I gained freedom from a bonded labor situation. In the name of management, the VP is nothing but a very bad team leader. He cannot manage or motivate his subordinates; instead, he talks about "firing" them. I realized this from his first meeting with me. Instead of promoting teamwork, he instructs us to work individually, leading to the failure of the job. Anyway, I believe it's not my concern.

Notice Period and Labor Law

In the letter of intent (LOI), it is mentioned that the "notice period is 7 days" if they terminate me, and it's 1 month if I resign. However, I think it should be the same period for both sides. I would like to know the rules as per labor law regarding compensation in this case.

As per your LOI, the "notice period is 7 days" if they terminate you, and it's 1 month if you resign. This is not correct. Whether you resign or are terminated, the notice period should be the same on both sides. If they terminated you without any prior intimation, then they are liable to pay compensation. As per my knowledge, they need to pay 1 month's compensation because the notice is the same on both sides. If you have evidence, i.e., a termination letter or email, you can approach the labor office to claim your compensation.

Seniors, please correct me if anything is wrong in this.

Thank you for the information. The VP didn't provide me with any termination letter; it was done verbally on the 9th at 7 pm, informing me not to come from tomorrow. Even the HR people referred me to talk with the VP for settlement. However, the HR didn't reply to my email. After being terminated, I waited for 2 days and then sent them an email informing them that I was fired by the VP. I did this thinking they might mark me as "absconded."

First of all, when the VP asked you to leave, you should have requested him to send you an email regarding this. You left on verbal notice and did not take any proof. Now, you can do one thing: correspondence through emails or keep call records. If management is playing a foul game, then you also need to play smartly. And if after follow-ups on email they refuse your FnF settlement, then you can go legal. But first, make yourself equipped with evidence.

All the best!