Legal Advice Needed: Is It Okay to Issue New Appointment Letters to Current Employees?

Hi, I have joined an organization where appointment letters are not issued for most of the existing employees. Can you please suggest from a legal requirement perspective if it is fine to issue new appointment letters with the current date to regularize the process of issuing appointment letters to all existing employees.

Thank you.

My suggestion is to issue the appointment letters with their actual date of joining. Otherwise, your data will be mismatched. In accounts, it will show one date, and in HR records, another date which can create problems during audits. This discrepancy is not beneficial for employees as their experience on paper will appear to be less than it actually is.

The importance of issuing appointment letters

The policy of not issuing an appointment letter is petty, and it actually serves no purpose. Yes, there will be no records regarding the appointment, but then the appointment can be proved by other circumstantial evidence, and there would be plenty of them. For example, a copy of attendance registers or even e-means used, the record of instructions received, the use of official means of communication, etc. So, it does not really help.

Now that it is proposed to issue it, the best option is to appoint from the original date itself but have a proper designation, pay, and other terms and conditions including the period of probation, notice period, etc. An employee has to feel wanted in his workplace; issuing an appointment order confirms that feeling.

At this stage, even in the absence of an appointment letter, the contract of employment is complete.

It is fine to give an appointment letter on the current date stating your date of joining as per records is -- and your salary at the time of joining was --.

Col. Suresh Rathi