Is It Legal for My Employer to Withhold My Salary Due to a Client's Unpaid Debt?

Hi. I was working with Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. as an assistant manager from 2020-2022. It is a stockbroking company, and my responsibilities were to take care of investors and provide them with customer service help. One of our clients lost all his money in trading, and he was liable to pay 17,000 more to the company as charges and taxes. It was a loss for the company because he refused to pay the amount. After my resignation, the company withheld my full and final salary and relieving letter due to this amount not being recovered from the client. Now, they are not agreeing to pay my salary for this reason. Is it legal for them to do so? Can I go to some authority to complain against my employer?

Hi, you claim that your company's client lost all their money in trading and was liable to pay Rs. 17,000 to the company, but they refused to pay back.

Primary questions

Now the primary questions are:

Client's loss due to guidance or negligence

Is the client's loss in trading due to your wrong guidance or negligence in work?

Responsibility for money recovery

Is the recovery of money from customers your responsibility, or is there a separate recovery division?

The company can only hold a proportionate amount of settlement when it incurs a loss due to your work negligence, which needs to be proven with supporting documents after a proper inquiry.

If you haven't provided wrong guidance to the customer and you are not responsible for money recovery, you may contact the Labour officer of your jurisdiction. But before that, try to directly get in touch with the employer and attempt to find an amicable solution first.