Struggling to Get My Experience Letter: How Can I Legally Address This with My Ex-Employer?

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Resigned from Franchise India Holdings Ltd. as Senior Sales Manager - Exhibitions, Charmswood Office on 12th March 2017, and after discussions, my last day of work was supposed to be 15th March 2017. In the meantime, I completed all my formalities, including a complete handover and document submission. Also, as per the directions and company policy, I obtained all the NOCs signed from various departments, confirming I owed nothing to the company and all formalities were completed.

Despite completing all the requirements by 15th March, I didn't receive any acceptance of my resignation and had to follow up via personal emails and with HR, finally receiving it on 21st March. So officially, I was relieved on 21st March, which the organization does not accept. Also, no mention of serving the notice period was provided, as the whole point of relieving on short notice was for early relieving.

Points Raised to HR

1. Acceptance of resignation, where a smooth exit transition and complete handover were mentioned. The management was okay with my early relieving and hence did not mention anything at that moment regarding serving the notice period. I received acceptance 9 days after my original resignation email. All the emails had the management and HR in the loop.

2. I had personally messaged HR, Sunita Sinha, via WhatsApp to check if any prerequisites were pending. I didn't get a reply or an update to serve the notice period on that matter as well.

3. I received FORM 16 and was in touch with HR even after acceptance; even then, there was no issue or red flag raised.

4. Finally, last month in September 2019, when I connected with the HR of the company, I was asked to pay for non-service of the notice period, which made no sense to me.

5. I required the service letter for my future employer, who is now on the verge of canceling my offer letter due to my inability to present an experience letter. Hence, Franchise India is also interfering with the lives of employees and their right to work in India.

6. The company does not provide PF, doesn't allow paid leaves, and offers no double pay for working on holidays.

7. It has already been 10 days of continuous follow-up, and finally, when [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons] and [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons] were kept in the loop, the HR finally shared the FNF amount that I have to pay, without considering all the detailed communication that was provided to them.

This is a clear case where an employer can negatively impact the lives of employees just because they can. This has led to a lot of depression and mental agony. I might even lose my job offer given my future employer has strict BGV requirements and needs a relieving letter to proceed. (They already have all my emails, resignation, and offer letter from this organization, yet it doesn't meet their requirements.)

I will be attaching the complete email communication with the company for you to review. Please suggest how to legally proceed, as I have tried all possible means to reach an amicable solution.

Thank you.

Allegations Against Previous Organization

The poster has leveled several allegations against his previous organization. Most of them relate to the delays caused in the process of accepting his resignation and settling his F&F, about which no further action could be taken except passing negative criticism. Therefore, the only point that remains debatable seems to be the legality of the employer's refusal to issue an experience certificate to an exiting employee. Documents in the possession of the individual, such as the letter of appointment, salary slips, bank passbook entries, acceptance of resignation, relieving orders, or statement of F&F settlement, would serve as sufficient evidence of one's past employment under a particular employer and its duration.

Therefore, my opinion is that unless it is provided for in the service regulations or the contract of employment, a past employee cannot legally stake any claim for an experience certificate against his ex-employer.

Thank you for the reply. I have attached all the screenshots and email communications that support my case. Also, could you guide me on how to handle this scenario? I feel cheated by my ex-employer, and my future employment is at stake.

Notice Period Issue

The only comeback or argument from their end is that I did not serve the notice period, and as per the offer letter, it must be done. Can they withhold my relieving letter just on that ground?

I made numerous attempts to convey why it should be waived off based on resignation acceptance, complete handover, getting NOCs signed by all the departments, and my personal communications with HR on WhatsApp during resignation. Never did any authority during this period of resignation bother to come and discuss this matter.

Dear friend, All the e-documents uploaded indicate the entire communication between the management and yourself regarding the request for a "service letter" among many other things. It is discernible that you were specifically asked to pay a sum of Rs. 42,145.00 towards the unserved notice period of 25 days. I have my doubts about the accuracy of the calculation as it is mentioned that you worked for 16 days in March 2018 with respect to the last working date mentioned therein in the email dated 30-09-2019 from the HR. However, it appears that you have still not remitted the amount. Therefore, there is no use in harping on your own points of objection.

I believe it would not be right on your part to question the reimbursement of notice salary now as it is said to have been mentioned in the appointment letter. If you can appreciate the concept of the notice clause in any employment contract, you will understand that its main objective is not reimbursement but providing some time to look for a replacement. You should be aware that there are employers who never accept buy-out as an option for immediate exit.

Under these circumstances, my suggestion to you would be to pay the notice due, obtain the required previous employment documents, and avoid precipitating things.

I understand where you are coming from. Had it been a normal situation, I would have asked my organization to buy out, served the notice period, or even paid the amount. But the question is, isn't it forceful when during these one and a half years, and even during my resignation, there were no concerns? I hope you have also seen the WhatsApp screenshot where I specifically asked HR to check if any prerequisites were missing or if something needed to be done.

The problem I am facing right now is that during my resignation, they agreed to early relieving. You would also see they haven't even come back to me on paid leaves and PF policies. I could have accommodated my paid leaves into it as well. Also, can an organization not provide paid leaves to its employees or not allow them to use their saved leaves during their exit?

In all the emails I have been sent, it's only on 30th September that they informed me of a no-pay requirement. Is it not arm-twisting ex-employees? Those 42k that they are asking for are an employee's hard-earned money.

Also, as per the HR, we don't have any privilege/earned leaves. Is that legal? Can companies deny EL to employees?

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