Navigating a Messy Exit: Can My Old Company Cause Future EPF Issues?

After completing my MBA on 12th May 2021, I joined Company A for WFH. Post the first 3 months, the person gets confirmed. I worked for 4.5 months and then resigned on 5th October as the culture was not good, training was different, the actual work was different, and the expectations were for 13-15 hours of daily work. I had to use a personal laptop. I informed them to take notice of the pay as mentioned in the contract, but neither HR nor the manager was supportive. Therefore, I informed them that I could not continue and stopped working from 10th October. In the meantime, I also informed everything to new Company B, and they were ready to onboard without a relieving letter but advised waiting for 2 months at home from the date of resignation to avoid any legal issues. So, I will join Company B on 6th December.

However, the old company credited 12K each in October and November, even though I had stopped working. I had been emailing them for formal exit by taking notice pay, but received no reply. On 30th November, when I received 12K, I called HR to rectify and reverse it. This time, she took the call and agreed to provide the account number for the reversal. She also mentioned doing the exit formalities and would inform me of the amount I needed to repay. I had already raised this concern at the start, but they wasted my 2 months just to trouble me. What if I don't provide the notice pay and simply return the 12K, which morally I don't want to keep as I have not worked for it?

The new company is prepared to onboard me without a relieving letter. Can the old company create any problems in the date of exit or other EPF issues in the future?

Thanks in advance for guiding me in this difficult time.

Dear Colleague,

There are two aspects to your question:

1. Notice period payout back to the company

As long as you served the notice period of two months (if it is the stipulated time mentioned in your offer/terms of appointment), then there is no question of a fresh notice pay. In addition, you had also mentioned reversing the pay received. Hence, double-check to ensure you do not receive double payment and do not end up in a loss.

2. Formal relieving from your employer

You may try to get formal relieving from your employer; normally, they conduct exit interviews, etc., for their understanding, for which you may need to cooperate.

3. Correct date of exit and PF records

Ascertain the correct date of exit and inform the next employer of the exact date for your joining so that your PF records are accurate. Normally, the previous employer has to show a date of exit, which is to be mentioned in the EPFO Portal. If not done, you may also log in and mention the date of exit.

To quote: "Employees can now update their date of exit on the EPFO portal upon leaving a job. According to EPFO rules, if an employee is transferred from one institution to another, he is required to be enrolled as a member under the new establishment for transferring his provident fund from his previous account."

Thank you for the advice. So, in short, I don't need to pay notice pay as already 2 months have passed sitting at home itself.

But if they still ask for notice pay for giving a relieving letter and marking the date of exit, then, as you mentioned, self-updating the date of exit is a good option instead of paying them.