Is It Fair to Enforce a 90-Day Notice Period Without Agreement? Seeking Advice on Leave Policy and Negotiation

Clarification Needed on Notice Period and Leave Policy

Can someone please clarify the following points:

1. As per my appointment letter, the notice period is 60 days. After two years, the management announced a new exit policy and increased the notice period to 90 days from the existing 60 days. We only received an email announcing this change. I/We didn't sign any documents accepting this change. I believe the 90-day notice period applies to new hires who join after the announcement date. Is this correct?

2. I resigned from my current job by giving a 60-day notice, but the management is not accepting it. Instead, I'm being forced to give a 90-day notice. I learned that our company will not recruit anyone for my position after I quit because the project is going to end soon, so I don't have to do knowledge transfer (KT). Yet, the management is not ready to relieve me before 90 days. I feel this is unfair.

3. I still have 18 earned leaves in my account. As per our company's leave policy, all my leaves will be lost if I resign. Is this fair?

Please help me with how to negotiate with my manager in this regard.

Regards,
[Username]

Legal Precedence Over Company Announcements

See, the company can make any announcement it wants, but the law will prevail above it. Now let us address each issue one by one:

1) Increase in Notice Period

No, it cannot. It is a material point in the employment contract and cannot be amended. It can only be done if the original appointment letter reserved a right to do so and has done it specifically, not generally. So an announcement made post your appointment does not cover you. There are some important points on the issue; see below in the footnote.

2) Earned Leave

In every Shops and Establishment Act, there is a provision for this. There is a fixed number of leaves you are entitled to carry forward. So that number of leaves will become paid leave on resignation. You can be compensated. See this https://shopsandestablishmentactsindia.quora.com/

Once the appointment letter has been accepted and duly signed by both the employee and employer, it becomes the service agreement agreed upon by both parties. Furthermore, no employer can revise the service agreement without the consent of the concerned employee. In any circumstance where there is a need to revise the service agreement or make changes that may affect the employees, the employer must serve a notice to all concerned employees at least 21 days in advance. Any amendment thereof shall be subject to the consent of the employees. Therefore, legally, you need to serve a notice of two months.

Regarding Earned Leave

Since you have accrued earned leave upon resignation, the accrued earned leave cannot be lost. The employer must encash all the accrued earned leave credits in your balance.

Thanks and Regards,
V. Shakya
HR and Labor, Corporate Laws Advisor

Dear Experts, I have been working in a private software company for the past two years. Now, I have received a new offer from another company. In the offer letter from my current organization, it was stated that the notice period was three months, and if I failed to serve the notice period, I would have to pay three months' salary or a part thereof in lieu. However, they subsequently sent an email stating that "Employees who have received a salary hike and wish to resign before one year have to serve a three-month notice period and return one month's salary."

I have now resigned and informed them that I will serve one month's notice and buy out the remaining two months of my notice period as per my offer letter. However, my management is insisting that I pay five months' salary even if I serve only one month's notice.

Please advise me on how to handle this situation.

Thanks and regards,
Vamsi Krishna

@Labour Law Index, @V SHAKYA

Thanks for your quick response. My organization is a private limited company. Does earned leave encashment apply to private limited companies as well? And since I don't have responsibilities like Knowledge Transfer and Documentation now, can I ask for early relieving legally?

Thanks, Satish

Dear Krishna,

The company has stated a three-month notice period, which is binding on you. If they had added a new clause that after receiving an increment, an individual can't resign for one year, it is not legally correct.

Regards,
Y.R. Shirke