Employee Absconded to Canada: How Can I Recover Company Assets and Enforce Notice Period?

Hi All, There is an employee who has gone to Canada for a holiday but decided to stay there permanently. We asked him to resign and serve his notice period of two months or pay two months' salary in lieu of the notice period as per the policy. He agreed to serve the notice period, and we assumed that he would work sincerely for the next two months. However, we came to realize that he has stopped working and marking his attendance in HRMS starting from December. He has the company assets in India, which actually means he planned this beforehand. Nevertheless, kindly provide a solution to what can be done in this case. The employee is not willing to work and is also not ready to pay two months' salary in lieu of the notice period, simply absconding at this point. I need the assets back. Do I have legal standing at this point or not?

Dear member, If the employee went to Canada and did not return, then he had a plan to not only flee from your company but the country itself. Probably, he has taken cues from fugitives like Nithyananda, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya, and so on.

Recommendation for Action
Anyway, I recommend serving him notice to his last known address. Send it by Speed Post and maintain proper records of all the correspondence.

Proof of Asset Allotment
Secondly, what is the proof of the laptop allotment to him? In the same notice, order him to return the company's assets. If the employee remains intractable, then you may file a police complaint. More than this, you cannot do anything.

Thanks,

Regards, Dinesh Divekar

Steps to Address Employee Absconding
1) You may send him a "Not Reporting to Duty" letter to his communication address available with the company. Also, you may send an NRTD letter and post receipt to his official and personal email IDs and WhatsApp number. If he fails to respond, you may proceed with Abandonment of Contract.

2) You may recover assets against his salary and welfare.

Regards.

Dear Fellow Member, You wrote in your post, "He has the company assets in India," which implies that even though he is in Canada, the company assets are located in India itself. Now, the question arises, "Who possesses those assets here in India?" In my opinion, attempting to recover the notice period salary would be a cumbersome and expensive process, so the focus should be on retrieving the assets.

Action Steps
Ask him to hand over the assets only and simply warn him that if he does not comply within, let's say, 7 days, you will take criminal action against him for the theft of company property and data. You may need to lodge a police complaint against him if he does not cooperate.

Serve him a legal notice, or you can sue him under criminal and civil law as well. In most cases, a legal notice serves the purpose. If he doesn't comply with the legal notice, you have a good cause of action to proceed against him.

Hi, Please send him a warning letter through RPAD advising him to return company assets and also to make payment in lieu of the notice period as per the terms and conditions of his Appointment Order. You can email the same letter to his personal email ID as well. However, there might not be any response as he planned everything and left.

By any chance, if you have his passport copy with you, then just add a line in the warning letter that "In case of no reversion, the Company will be constrained to lodge a Police Complaint and also to take up the matter further with the Indian Embassy in Canada with your Passport copy." This is just to threaten him and wait for his reply.

Send the above through email as well with the read receipt option.