Seeking Spousal Consent Form for Female Employee's International Travel – Can You Help?

Dear Friends, Do you have any consent form from the spouse for international traveling by a female employee of the company? Please share if anyone has this consent form. Thanks.

Hi, this is strange. I don't think there is such an NOC requirement in India.

Obviously, when a wife receives an offer from abroad, she won't provide consent without discussing it with the family. I'm not sure why the employer needs to collect such an NOC.

Dear Narinder,

I wish you had provided the context of your query. Why is your company asking for consent from the spouse of the female employee? What is the logic behind it? Your profile says that you are from Cambridge, United States. Are you from the US or India?

The decision to allot work outside the country is based on the employee's competence. Whether the employee's spouse agrees to the overseas travel or not is a personal matter between the employee and their spouse, and consent for the travel is expected to be managed by the employee. Personal matters should not be brought to the company's doorstep.

What if the spouse does not give consent to travel abroad? Will your company dutifully accept the decision of the spouse? Indian women of the 21st century demonstrate independent thinking and are not attached to the apron strings of their spouses. Consent of this type will push women back to the pre-independence era when women were always under the patronage of men.

Let us consider the opposite scenario. If the male employee were required to travel overseas, would you have obtained consent from his wife? If not, then why this discrimination against women?

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

First of all, there is no 'statutory' obligation on the part of the employer to obtain an NOC from the spouses of employees bound for foreign postings. Secondly, the concerned employees themselves will not accept imposing such a condition. Thirdly, the employer should obtain willingness before initiating such foreign postings. Fourth, what if the NOCs are provided with certain conditions? Prepare your answers to these. Fifth, please ensure that the 'terms & conditions' of their appointment provide for such postings. If not, what is the solution?