Lost Your Relieving Letter? Here's How Employers Should Handle Duplicate Requests

Greetings, if an employee requests a copy of their relieving letter because they have lost the original, does the employer need to indicate that it is a duplicate copy or use a duplicate mark when reissuing the letter? Should the date on the letter be the same as the original issue date, or should it reflect the current date?

Dear Megha Joshi, You can exercise either option. There is no hard and fast rule as such. It is better to issue the same letter with the "Duplicate" mark. In this case, you need to issue the letter with the old date. You may issue the letter with the current date by adding a sentence, "This letter is issued a second time as the employee claims to have lost the letter issued to him on _____". Before issuing the letter, ask the employee to submit the application in hard copy.

Thanks,

Regards, Dinesh Divekar

Dear Mega, Definitely, you can reissue the relieving letter again. You can ask the concerned employee to write an application regarding the loss of the letter and issue the new relieving letter. You can mention, "We are reissuing this relieving letter as per the request of the employee."

Thank you.

Can we consider an email from an employee stating that he has lost the original copy of the relieving letter as a sufficient document to issue a duplicate copy?