Is It Fair to Stop an Employee's Pay Without Warning Before Their Leave Ends?

Dear All,

First of all, I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read my post.

I wanted to inquire whether it is appropriate to stop pay for an employee without any prior warning or notice. Is it acceptable to cease payment just before the end of the employee's leave period and issue a warning upon their return to work?

Thank you.

Dear Agarwal, you need to provide more details of the case. Are you involved in this case? If yes, in what capacity? Why does the company want to withhold the disbursement of wages? Has the employee committed any misconduct? If yes, instead of conducting an inquiry or issuing a show cause notice, why does the company want to put his salary on hold? What will be achieved by doing this?

Outright withholding of payment is illegal. The company may suspend an employee pending an inquiry. But in that case, the company also has to pay subsistence allowance as per the rules. Salary is the legitimate earning of an employee. Before the disbursement of these legitimate dues, since they are with the employer, he cannot use them as a bargaining tool.

For further queries, feel free to [contact me](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwFZpLigNaA5TnVXck53a1RycU0/view?usp=sharing).

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar