Contract Non-Renewal After Extension: Can I Demand a 2-Month Notice Period?

Contract Termination and Notice Period

All contracts end on March 31st. We are IT employees on contract. Everyone got a temporary extension of contracts until July. All I asked HR through email was to get my name and designation right on the extension contract form. After an exchange of a few emails, they corrected my designation, but there were extra characters in my name, which I politely asked about in my emails. However, somehow it hurt their ego, and on March 6th (this month), I received another email with the subject as non-renewal of the contract, stating that my contract won't be extended, and I will be relieved from duties on March 31st. On the same evening, they blocked my email. I joined the company on March 23rd, 2015, and it's been two years since then. According to the contract agreement form when I joined, it states that either party has to give two months' notice, i.e., me or the employer.

My question is, can I insist that I need a 2-month notice, or am I willing to serve a two-month notice?

What is the duration of the contract period? Is it for 1 year or 2 years? As per your information, the duration of the contract will expire on 31-03-2017. You will be relieved from service on 31-03-2017. If your service was terminated during the period of a 2-year contract, you will be entitled to a notice period. Was there continuity in service or a break in service? What is your gross salary?

Thanks for the reply, Srinath. Our contract gets renewed year by year. As per the email I received in my company's official email on the 6th of this month, it said I will be relieved from service on 31-03-2017 due to non-renewal of the contract. I saw this message in the morning, and by 7 pm in the evening, I was unable to access my email. I am still not able to access it, and I wonder why they would do that. There has been no break in service since March 2015. Earlier, on February 22, we all received an extension of the contract until June 2017. However, because I had the audacity to ask them to correct the form on March 6th, things turned ugly. I am not sure about my gross salary, but my take-home pay is Rs 18,500 per month.

Dear Ronin, it's unfortunate that you are in trouble and away from work today, but it's not for a longer duration (which you did not anticipate). From the brief facts, I see that it's not a case of termination of services but a simple case of "not extending the services contract period anymore." Actually, it's a fact and a coincidence here that the contract between your company and you was to expire on 31st March 2017, and the company HR simply informed about the same on 6th March 2017. The action of not renewing the contract is a legally correct action. In this scenario, which HR does not normally handle, you are not entitled to notice pay as well. Please invest your time in creative pursuits and join with full strength to search for a job sooner.

Best wishes,

RDS Yadav Director, Navtarang HR Services

Below is the email that everyone received on Feb 22 from the director. Does it mean that I am still on a contract until June 31st, 2017, even though the original one finishes on March 31st, 2017? I am thinking, because of the extension, if I am still under a contract, then I am entitled to serve a notice period from my side. Please help.

Note: Ours is an "autonomous company" that works for the government. But ours is not a government job.

Dear All,

The appraisals for all the (company name deleted) staff will be completed by 15th March. The extension of contracts up to June 2017 is not meant for the postponement of the appraisal date. This may please be communicated to all your team members and assure them that the appraisals will be completed well before 31st March 2017.

Regards

After careful perusal of your salary slip, it is observed that you are not an "Employee". Your services are retained as "Consultant". You are not paid a salary; you are paid a "Professional Fee".

Mr. Yadav,

The first original contract was in the year 2015. Then in 2016, they renewed my contract, which was supposed to end by the 31st of March. However, in February 2017, we all received an email stating that our contracts had been extended until June 2017. I don't have access to the email since it was blocked on the 6th of March, the same day I received the notice of non-renewal of the contract. However, it is a known fact that all staff had their contracts extended until June 2017 in the email sent in February.

Doesn't that mean I am still under the contract until June 2017, and either I or they have to serve a two months' notice? Today, on the 1st of April, I managed to enter the premises. The biometrics took my fingerprint reading, and then I sent an SMS to my directors and HR expressing my willingness to serve a two months' notice. However, at around 4:30 pm, security informed me that from next time I need to obtain a visitor's pass from the management building to enter the office premises.

I messaged one of the directors to explain why I needed a security pass, emphasizing that my contract was extended until June 2017. In response, he insisted that the ending date was the 31st of March and did not mention the email regarding the contract extension we all received on February 22. All this is happening in an autonomous company that operates for the government with government employees in management.

Mr. Srikanth,

If I am a consultant, then what does it actually mean? Does it limit me from certain things? We had to go to the office and work from there.

I attached a page of termination terms as requested by some members. Do let me know if you need more pages. Sorry I could not do this earlier, as I did not have time.

Consultants and Company Benefits

Consultants are not entitled to the generally available facilities and benefits to which company employees are entitled. Based on details and facts, it is understood that the services of consultants could also be terminated without any prior notice or pay in lieu of notice period (Clause 14.2). Secondly, electronic messages, emails, and SMS are not legally acceptable and have not yet been included under the ambit of "communication" under service rules like Standing Orders, which can become a cause of action.

Steps to Take for Contractual Disputes

However, please write emails, take prints of all documents, and send them by Speed Post along with copies addressed to the HR Head, Directors, including the MD and Chairman. Also, state that your entry after April 1, 2017, has been disallowed by security personnel orally. You can claim two months' salary if you are not required as per the terms mentioned in the contract letter dated ___________. In case the company does not allow you to serve during the 2 months' notice period, which you are prepared to honor, as many assignments are still to be completed by you.

Strategic Action to Ensure Notice Pay

This is to strategically and immediately mount pressure on your company to force them to release the notice pay. Keep it on for 3-4 times, repeating once, and after that for one month. You have to stand strongly on the line as a weak point of that Directors' mail sent in February 2017, which states that appraisal and extension of the contract period can be given relief as favorably useful for you.

Regards,

Dear Ronin, only an email regarding the extension of the contract will not be acceptable as you may not have signed it. Also, if the contract ends on 31st March, then the condition of a 2-month notice period will not arise, as they are ending the contract and not renewing it. If you have a copy of the email specifically written to you, then it can be taken as proof; otherwise, a general email is of no use.

We are also unable to locate the clause that states what happens if they terminate the contract on the mentioned date. Therefore, I believe you will not be eligible for the 2-month notice period.

Kind regards

Dear all,

So bottom line, should I simply let it go and carry on? Because deep down I strongly feel that I have been wronged. There were many times in my career that I let go of similar situations like this, i.e., "Chalta hai, or Jaane bhi do" attitude. If I let it go, the fact that the Admin department's ego led to this will always haunt me. I would consider all your advice.

Thanks

Dear Ronnin,

If you have the proofs, then only you can fight it out. Without proof, the company is not going to even give an ear to your complaints. So, it is better to move ahead. You can politely ask the company, but citing the contract, there is not much that you can achieve.