Resignation Rejected, Legal Notice Received: How to Handle Notice Period Disputes and Potential Legal Consequences?

Request for Leave and Resignation Issues

Due to pressing personal circumstances, X requested his company to grant a leave for two months, which the company denied on the grounds that such a position cannot be left vacant for so long. X approached the company with a resignation letter on 9 September 2017, which was rejected. However, on the 19th, he resigned without any settlements on the grounds that the two months' notice wasn't served. X had requested a waiver for it.

X was due to receive an incentive for the previous month, but it was held back. In the meantime, X joined another company (perhaps they didn't require a relieving letter from the previous employer). X has now received notice from the company stating that, failing to give two months' notice, he'd be liable to pay 1.5 lacs. This was conveyed to him when his resignation was rejected. The notice also states that the company became suspicious of his requests, made an inquiry about him, and found out he took a job with another company (he joined after resigning from the first). Since they had not formally accepted his resignation, he was still considered their employee, thus the notice, which was served yesterday.

Potential Legal Consequences

Will this call for any criminal action against him, as they are calling him an absconder? He worked for a year with that company.

Dilemma and Questions

- Even after submitting the resignation and being absent from work, X kept calling the company to accept the resignation. The company never made any attempts to respond.
- Instead of asking for 1.5 lacs, could they not have adjusted the claim against the salary for the notice period and incentive?

I'm interested to know the outcomes of such cases:
1. We will send a notice. But X clearly can't pay that high of a claim price, so how do we settle on that?
2. Under what section will a suit for recovery be filed?

Thanks so much!

Resignation and Notice Period Obligations

The person who resigned in the above instance is at fault and cannot claim innocence under any circumstance. He/she was well aware of the employment contract between the parties, with the employer making it clear regarding the notice period applicable if an employee wishes to quit. This is primarily done to protect the employer from sudden disruptions and to provide time to find a replacement.

You cannot trivialize the situation and then claim you will compensate for the loss, etc. It may not be just the salary, but much more in some cases when someone abruptly leaves a company without any notice, especially if the role is critical to the company. Paying for the notice period is an option given as natural justice to both parties and cannot be ignored. It is better to admit the fault and try to settle the issue instead of getting entangled in a legal dispute, which may take much time and be stressful in most cases.

Thanks and Regards