What Happens If You Can't Serve Your Notice Period? Seeking Advice on Alternatives

Dear All,

I would like to seek your opinion. I had been working in an organization for the past 4 years, and in August, I resigned from my position. I was unable to serve the notice period, which I communicated via email. Initially, there was no response from them for 15 days. When I inquired about it, I was informed that serving the notice period was mandatory, which I could not comply with.

Alternative Options for Notice Period Compliance

I would appreciate your insights on whether there are alternative options if an employee is unwilling to serve the notice period. Can the employer terminate the employee directly? In the termination letter, it was mentioned that the employee was not reachable, despite communication happening through email, and no calls were made by the HR team.

I am seeking advice as I am unaware of the regulations in this matter. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

The option in cases of an incomplete serving notice period is to buy out the remaining period provided the employer agrees to it. It is at the discretion of the employer to insist on serving the notice period fully or accept the payment for the days not served. In case you have not offered to pay them already, you may consider making the offer or even propose to get it deducted from the dues payable to you.

You have not mentioned the notice period and how much you served. You can point out that you have been continuously in touch with the authorities, so the conclusion that the employee was not contactable is totally unwarranted and seek a review thereof. You are on a strong point here and so can threaten them with legal proceedings in this regard. The advice is to approach HR/Departmental authorities for a review of the position and try to persuade them.