Navigating HR After Maternity Leave: How Can I Avoid Paying for a Waived Notice Period?

I need your advice on how to proceed further with communication with my company's HR. I was working with my company for the last 6.5 years and then went on maternity leave. I also went on leave without pay for some time after that but then decided that I couldn't join back to work and resigned effective immediately. Due to medical reasons, I also couldn't serve 60 days of my notice period. My manager accepted my resignation and said, "Keeping your circumstances in mind, your notice period is waived off, but you need to give 2 months of salary." My point here is if my notice period is waived off, then for what reason am I entitled to pay 60 days of salary? My company has a separate HR department where employees can bring up their grievances and that takes care of employee benefits. What points can I put across to them to get a waiver so that they do not treat this as a normal termination case?

Thanks!

On the one hand, your HR Manager says he is ready to "waive off" the condition of the notice period, and on the other, he tells you to "pay in lieu of the notice period." Seemingly, this may appear contradictory; however, to give a correct reply, we need to know the clauses about separation included in the appointment letter.

Some companies include a clause in the appointment letter that states when an employee resigns, whether to accept money in lieu of the notice period or not is management's discretion. Therefore, the choice of the resigning employee does not matter. Probably, your HR Manager meant to say that considering your medical condition, he will not force you to serve the notice period. Nevertheless, the condition of payout remains.

Before raising a grievance with your HR department, you may check the conditions mentioned in your appointment letter. If the condition suits you, then show a copy of the appointment letter. If the condition does not suit you, then tell them that the proposition of the HR Manager is contradictory.

As of now, let us try to settle the matter through your routine grievance procedure. Let us see in what direction the verdict of HR goes. Senior members of this forum will suggest further options thereafter.

All the best!

Regards, Dinesh Divekar

There is no problem with resigning due to medical illness post-maternity. When the notice period is waived, there should not be a recovery of the 2-month salary. Secondly, was the salary paid during maternity leave in excess of the period you are eligible to receive salary, i.e., 12 weeks (3 months)? Also, I understand from you that you have extended your maternity leave and were on Loss of Pay. You can discuss this with your HR and resolve it amicably.

I haven't received any reply from my HR; it's my immediate manager who said this about the two-month salary recovery. He mentioned that the HR is not approving the waiver of the salary penalty. After reading through a few related posts, it appears that all of this depends on the manager's discretion regarding whether they want to resolve the situation in favor of the employee or not. Is this true? My manager has assured me that he is willing to assist me.

I agree. I would still suggest you have a 2:1 meeting inclusive of your manager and HR and have this sorted out.

If your notice period is waived off, then you do not need to pay any notice pay of 2 months. Before proceeding further, make sure of the exact state of affairs.

All,

There is a difference between a period being waived off and pay being waived off.

Regards,