Employer Wants Me to Pay for Product Issues After I Quit – What Should I Do?

Hi guys, I was working in a very small product company with fewer than 10 employees. Most of the products were rushed and made with a low budget. No proper tools or software were made available, and employees were expected to use all free software. Only I and another person, who mainly handled meetings, were in charge of developing the product from scratch to testing to deployment.

Since most of the products were rushed and low budget, had no proper tools or outside certification/testing, and were made by overworking on most days and working weekends, I was not comfortable and resigned. After I was relieved and received an experience and relief letter, the employer reached out, saying the product was not performing, and asked me to pay the cost of rework. When I was relieved, everything was fine, and I got all the necessary documents. Any advice would be helpful as it's bothering me a lot.

The claim is ridiculous, to say the least. An employee cannot be made to pay for rework, particularly since it is a development (first-time) effort. Was there any such condition in your appointment terms? In its absence, such claims are preposterous. Once the employee has been relieved unconditionally, that means there is no claim against the employee.

The only issue is that the company can play with BGV, which is the risk. Otherwise, the company can only file a claim against you in the civil court, and then it is a long-drawn process to get a court order against you.

It sounds like a difficult situation to navigate. If you have all the necessary documents and were relieved from your duties in good standing, it seems unlikely that you would be responsible for the cost of any rework.