Undertaking from Employee at the time of joining - Please advise me how to proceed

Dear Senior, please advise me on how to proceed with the following undertaking from employees at the time of joining and recommend any necessary corrections.

Date:

Undertaking

I, _________________, S/O __________________, aged ____, residing at ___________________________, holding Aadhar Number _________________, hereby undertake to comply with the following terms and conditions during my employment with M/s. ______________________________ Limited (Company):

I will follow the Health, Safety, and Environment policies of the Company (Company Name & Address) at all times during my employment with the Company.

I fully abide by the rules and regulations of the Company during my employment and will not indulge in any activity that is detrimental to the Company and its business, including illegal groupism, directly or indirectly.

I will always maintain industrial peace and harmony and will not indulge in or instigate any hindrance, disturbance, or sabotage in the Company’s business activities, directly or indirectly, during my service period with the Company.

If at any time, I am found incompetent to perform the duties and responsibilities assigned to me, or found to be dishonest, disobedient, intemperate, irregular in attendance, or involved in any offense, the Company shall have the absolute right to terminate my employment forthwith without any notice or compensation.

Upon resignation or dismissal of service, I shall return or deposit to the Site/Engineer-In-Charge or any other Company Official as delegated by the Company, the original gate pass, tools and tackles, PPEs, documents, records, drawings, or any other materials/documents issued to me or received by me during my service with the Company.

(Name & Signature of the Employee)

Date:

It is a good practice, but please remember that this has little direct legal impact. In case of a violation of the undertaking, you can remove him from employment, but you will still need to follow the entire process, including giving show cause notices and holding a domestic inquiry.

The undertaking is only a supporting piece of evidence that makes your life a little better. The undertaking is not a legal contract.

"What on earth is 'illegal groupism'? A very strange term indeed. Is it peculiar to India? I've never seen or heard it used anywhere till today."

Dear Colleague, Legal enforcement of such an undertaking letter may have challenges as it is mostly one-sided and more like an SOP. It is suggested you convert the terms as part of the appointment order in the following manner so that it becomes part of the appointment terms and a clause of the appointment order:

"The employee has to follow the Health, Safety, and Environment policies of the Company, (Company Name & Address) at all times during his/her employment with the Company.

The employee has to fully abide by the rules and regulations of the Company during employment and shall not indulge in any activity which is detrimental to the Company and its business. They should refrain from indulging in any activities that are viewed as misconduct/crime/illegal acts, etc., under the legal system from time to time.

The employee has to maintain and support conducive industrial peace and harmony and shall not indulge/instigate in bringing any hindrance/disturbance/sabotage to the company’s business activities directly or indirectly during his/her service period with the Company, except for those fair practices allowed under the law.

If at any time, the employee is found incompetent to perform the duties and responsibilities assigned, or found to be dishonest, disobedient, intemperate, irregular in attendance, or involved in any offense or misconduct of such nature, then the Company shall have the absolute right to terminate the employment forthwith without any notice and compensation thereof after adhering to the required disciplinary process.

In case of resignation/dismissal of service, the employee shall return/deposit to the Site/Engineer-In-Charge or any other Company Official as delegated by the Company, the original gate pass, tools and tackles, PPEs, documents, records, drawings, or any other materials/documents issued to the employee/received by the employee during the service with the Company, which are provided to perform his given work/role.

You may add such clauses you feel absolutely necessary but do not bring any clause which is one-sided, biased, prejudiced, and infringing on the basic and fundamental rights of the employee here as those clauses will be null and void.

My suggestion is not to take a separate undertaking every time but to bring it under the appointment order. Another option is that in the case of Workmen Covered under the ID Act, there will be a Standing Order for your establishment, and you may add all these clauses in the standing order so that it becomes a valid one. In the case of Supervisory, Executive, Managerial, and Officer levels (Non-ID Act covered), you may create a detailed "Code of Conduct document" listing out all such requirements and annex it to the Appointment order to be signed by both sides - Employer and Employee. Then it becomes a very valid document. Kindly think and then proceed.

Such undertakings are, in legal terms, nothing more than mere placebos. They can only supplement the laws and regulations of the country but not supplant them. Therefore, the conditions as undertaken would not amount to a waiver of the legitimate rights of the employees or of contracting out their statutory entitlements.

Dear Sripad, to me, the draft undertaking seems to be a mere replica of the Standing Orders, Service Regulations, or the Code of Conduct of employees applicable to the organization. You can simply put in the offer or appointment letter that the employee will abide by the rules of discipline and code of conduct applicable to his cadre and obtain his signature.