Medical Fellow Resigned Without Notice: Is Collecting an Appointment Letter Essential?

Greetings, A medical fellow, who was under a fellowship program in the surgical oncology department of our hospital, was on leave and during the leave days, he resigned without a notice period of one month. He was supposed to complete a two-year fellowship program but resigned before the year, depriving other prospective applicants of the opportunity to secure the position for the competitive fellowship in the medical profession.

Before his joining, we issued him an offer letter. He joined us and started his fellowship in the surgical unit. Despite several notifications, he did not come to collect his appointment letter wherein the notice period was clearly mentioned. Now, when we spoke to him and asked about serving the notice period, he refused and claimed he never received any appointment letter from us. He mentioned taking legal action if any deduction was made or his salary was forfeited. It was the employee's responsibility to collect the appointment letter. Is it necessary to collect a letter to serve the notice period? Serving notice before leaving the organization is common practice. Seniors are kindly requested to advise us in this regard.

Thanks & Regards.

Hi, This situation seems a bit ambiguous. You mentioned that before his joining, an offer letter was issued, and he joined and started his fellowship in the surgical unit but didn't collect the Appointment Order despite many reminders. What was the content of the offer letter? Was there any mention of the separation clause in the offer letter?

As per the process, on the day of joining, an Appointment Order should have been issued to him, and without signing the Appointment, he should not have been allowed to join. In any contract, the terms and conditions should have been mutually agreed upon and signed by both parties. In the absence of acceptance of the Appointment terms, insisting on one month's notice will not hold legally. However, as a matter of ethics, he should serve one month's notice.

Hello sir, Employee not taking the appointment letter does not mean that he is not working in your company. If you have a record of punching, you can inform him. If a bond was signed at the time of joining, you can take legal action regarding that bond as well. However, initially, you should listen to the reasons for leaving the organization. If the reasons are valid, you can mutually agree on releasing him.