Absconding Employee Without Appointment Letter: Can They Claim Salary After 2 Months?

What if a small business hires an employee without an appointment letter, being a proprietary firm? After serving for 20 days, if the employee lies about family problems and goes absconding without informing, joining another business house with the same nature of business, can he claim his 20 days' salary after 2 months of absconding?

I personally feel that the other business house, which likely poached the staff, should compensate for the loss of salary that the staff suffered from his previous employer, whom he left without informing. Ethically, he retains no rights to ask for his salary from his previous employer, as he left the job in pursuit of a higher salary and joined the other employer, thereby risking loss of business for the previous employer.

Employee Departure Without Notice

Even if no appointment or offer letter is issued to the employee, if the employee is guilty of lying and leaving the company without intimation or on very short notice, and it is proven that they joined another company for better prospects, the employee, being absconding or leaving on short notice, causing damage to the previous employer due to sudden and abrupt job departure, cannot ask for their salary. They are already being compensated by the new employer benefiting from the employment. The previous employer, within their rights, can refuse to pay their salary.

Due to this unethical poaching, some organizations pay salaries after the 10th of every month, allowing employees to collect the salary for the previous month but forfeiting the salaries of the first 10 days of the current month as compensation for leaving without notice or abruptly. The employee then has no rights to claim the salary for the 10 days, having abandoned the employer.

Employer's Rights and Employee Obligations Without a Contract

The employer has the right to refuse to pay the salary to an unfaithful employee who fakes a reason to join another company. The employee is not bound by the offer letter since it was not issued, so they are not obligated to serve any notice period and cannot be sued for leaving with short notice or absconding to join another company for better prospects.

However, since there is no contract between the employer and employee, even the employer is not protected by the offer letter, as it was not issued. The employer can also refuse to pay the salary to the employee if they are absconding, lying about the reason for leaving, or departing with very short notice to join another company with better prospects. This is because the employee has put the employer at risk of possible loss due to sudden absence, failure to report for duty, or leaving with insufficient time for the employer to find a replacement. The employee is guilty of knowingly causing disruptions in business and absconding for selfish reasons; therefore, they may forfeit their salary for such deceit.

Claim for Wages

The claim for wages for working days is justified and cannot be denied. The denial to pay the outstanding wages by the employer is illegal.

Employee Absence and Employer's Obligation

The employee's absence due to a family problem cannot be termed as absconding, especially when the employer was informed about the reason for the absence. The employer is required to pay the amount due for the period of work completed by the employee.

Hi, In the normal course, an employee is supposed to serve a proper notice period at the time of resignation as per the terms and conditions of the appointment letter. If an employee absconds and joins another competitor without serving the proper notice period, then the employer has the right to deny the FFS as the employee absconded without any update.

But in your case, no appointment letter was issued to the employee, and the employee left without information and joined another competitor company. In this case, in the absence of a mutually agreed-upon accepted employment contract, the employer has no right to insist on a proper notice period, nor does the employee have any obligation to serve a proper period. Mostly, such absconded employees will not follow up for salary. Even if a salary request is made by that employer, the employer can make it clear that for absconded cases, FFS cannot be made.

He can't demand the salary as he has abruptly left the organization, and with no proper documentation, he can't claim.