Dismissed Without an Offer Letter: What Are the Candidate's Rights and Next Steps?

Greetings! I am trying to help an acquaintance and need your advice. A candidate worked in a private limited company for one month without an offer letter and appointment letter. In good faith, he kept working on the verbal confirmation of the CEO, his reporting manager. He kept following up for the appointment letter regularly and was told that it would be issued soon.

Around the 28th day of his working, the CEO summons the candidate and declares that the candidate is being dismissed for non-performance without citing clear reasons. There is no paperwork in favor of the candidate. The CEO declares that the candidate need not report to work from the 31st day and that the one-month salary will be paid. However, when the candidate inquires, the CEO does not give a clear date of when the salary will be issued. It has been more than a week now, but the employer is not responding.

What should the candidate do? What are his legal rights? Is the candidate legally eligible for his salary? Please advise on the course of action to be taken.

Regards, Ajay

Employee vs. Candidate

When an applicant applies for a job, he or she is called a job candidate. Once the candidate is selected and joins the duties, he or she is referred to as an "employee." In your acquaintance's case, he or she needs to be called an employee, not a candidate.

Evidence of Employment

The employee was removed within a month. The employee was not given either an offer letter or an appointment letter. Did he or she sign the attendance? What evidence can this person provide to prove that he or she was employed?

Seeking Salary Payment

The employee has been sending emails asking for the salary. Tell him or her to take a printout of the emails. Secondly, what was the designation of this person? Did anyone report to this person? If nobody reported, then the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 become applicable to him or her, and under the provisions of this law, he or she can approach the Labour Office and make a formal complaint for the non-payment of wages.

Legal Options for Supervisors

If this person worked as a supervisor and above, with a few persons reporting to him, then his case becomes difficult, as there is no remedy under the provisions of the ID Act, 1947, and filing a civil suit is the only option.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Was daily attendance being marked by the company?

Has the employee been signing letters or have any evidence that he has actually worked for 28 days or so?

Put up a written representation asking for salary and reasons for termination.

Thank you for the response! I would like to clarify the following. Please advise further.

1. The employee signed the attendance register.
2. The biometric attendance system also captured the in and out time daily since the employee had the ID badge.
3. The CCTV captured it too.
4. He filled out the Employee joining form and NDA on the date of joining.
5. No emails were sent regarding salary. Only verbal follow-ups were done.
6. No designation was finalized. Only salary was verbally finalized. Designation was not finalized despite reminders and follow-ups. The broad role was recruitment and marketing work.
7. Nobody reported to the employee.

Please instruct the employee to submit an application for the payment of wages for the period worked. Advise him to send the hard copy by registered post with acknowledgment due. If the salary is not disbursed within a week, he should send a reminder along with a copy of this letter to the local labor officer. If the employer remains uncooperative, the employee should proceed to make a formal application to the labor officer.

When sending the letter via hard copy, ask the employee to also send the soft copy by email. Additionally, ensure that the employee takes a printout of the email communication.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

If I remember correctly, no labor law other than the Sales Promotion Employees Act makes it obligatory on the part of the employer to issue appointment orders to their employees. Therefore, it cannot be considered a substantial proof of one's employment. It would be better to ask your friend to raise a dispute under Section 2-A(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 before the Labor Officer for the area. This way, a meeting point can be created, and the issue of unpaid salary can be settled at least.

Thank you, Dinesh, for your information which is really enlightening because all along I was under the impression that only the SPE Act, 1976 mandates such a provision in view of the scattered nature of the actual places of employment of the Sales Promotion Employees.

Immediately, I've gone through the KNS & CE Rules, 1963 and found Rule 24(9A) providing for the appointment order in Form Q. As you rightly observed, it is different from the appointment letters issued by industrial employers in general, though retaining the essential particulars. The Enforcement Officers may also be correct in insisting on the exact format in view of the multitude of conventional types of establishments. However, Rule 24(9) enables the employer to use different formats of the notices and registers with the prior permission of the Government.

Coming to the original issue, let the employee approach the Labor Officer first so that he may know whether the very fact of his employment with the organization is denied, allowing him to decide the course of his alternative remedy for the issue.