Employee Resigned, Took Leave, and Disappeared: How Should We Handle His Request for Documents?

Dear All,

I have a case where one of the employees resigned from his job and was serving his notice period. He served only 10 days of his one-month notice period, and on the 11th day, he called to inform us that his mother was unwell and he needed one week off to take care of her. Despite our policy stating no leave entitlement unless in case of emergency, we accepted his request and granted him the time off.

However, for almost 50 days, there was no communication from him; he neither returned to the office nor contacted us. After 50 days, he called me requesting his Experience and relieving letters. I informed him that we would not provide these documents and suggested he apply for his PF withdrawal instead.

Interestingly, this same individual attended one of our employees' weddings about a month prior, along with other colleagues, where he left in a car from the office parking lot without visiting the office.

I would like to seek your advice on whether our actions are appropriate or if there are alternative suggestions you could provide.

Best regards,

Vamsee

As he has not served his notice period, you can withhold his relieving letter and take him off records as a case of job abandonment.

Of course, there is a particular way to go about this. You will have to send him show cause letters and ask him to report to work. If he does report, you can confront him and ask him to serve the remaining 50 days of his notice period. This would give you an idea as to whether his concerns were genuine or not. Essentially, you would not want him back in your facility so if he agrees to serve out his notice period, you can cut him some slack and let him go.

If he does not respond, you can take him off company records and for future references or background verifications from other companies, you can give him an unfavorable report.

Regards, Parvati

Hi Vamsee,

As per the case mentioned by you, I think that you are on the right move as this guy didn't serve his full notice period for a month, and he has served only for 10 days. According to me, his account should be under recovery wherein he should not be paid anything by the company but instead he needs to pay the company for the 20 days for which he has not served the company, or else the notice period could be adjusted only with his earned leaves provided whether he has it in his leave account. The recoverable amount should be calculated on the basis of his basic salary as the notice period amount is calculated on the basis of basic salary and not the whole salary.

He should be given a proper experience/relieving letter from the company only when his dues are settled and not before that.

Regards,
Aparna
HR Professional

Hi Vamsee,

As I have gone through the details provided by you, there are two or three things on which we need to think about:

1. How do we treat the number of days he was absent from work?
- If he was absent due to a genuine reason, you need to collect all the documentary evidence from him and then cross-verify before making a decision regarding his candidature with your company. In the service industry, if somebody is absent for 8 continuous days, termination can be considered without any issue. However, practically, it is not always possible to fire a candidate without any reason. It also depends on the candidate's performance, whether they are a performer, non-performer, or outstanding performer.

2. The most important thing we need to understand here is why he is behaving in such a manner. If an employee starts behaving destructively or negatively, there is always a reason behind it. We need to communicate with the candidate directly or discuss the issue with his reporting officer to address his behavior. Additionally, it would be beneficial to talk to the individuals who provided his references or character certificates.

3. While termination is an option, understanding the root cause can help us retain other employees and inform management about the reasons for employee dissatisfaction within the organization. If an employee is not content with the internal or external environment, they may resort to negative or destructive actions to seek attention.

4. For the days he was not present at work, you can adjust those days using his available earned leaves. For the remaining days, they can be treated as no work, no pay.

5. My suggestion is that we should not just focus on the activities performed by satisfied employees but rather understand the underlying problems that may lead to certain behaviors.

6. As HR professionals, we should maintain good relations with employees, regardless of whether they are currently employed in the company or have left.

Regards,

Mradul Bhatnagar

I totally agree with Mradul, especially the point made about how HR personnel must maintain cordial relations with not only existing but also ex-employees. There are so many ways to handle this situation, but personally, I feel that you should deduct a month's salary or whatever is stated in your employment contract and let go since you can't hold back an employee who has already decided to leave. The only thing to be noted is that the employee could have shown some courtesy towards you all, being ex-employers. The world is made up of all kinds of people, so we have to move on... :)

Dear Vamgodavarthy,

The situation you have described is not alien to HR professionals. Often, such things happen. An employee who has decided to jump off the company wagon cannot be contained despite all possible HR measures. You may deduct 13 days' salary from his balance dues since 17 days' leave has already been granted to him. Please note that one cannot be compelled to work during the notice period, and also, an employee cannot be denied leave during the notice period if he has leave to his credit. Please read the case law on it in the case of Ghanshyamdas Vs. Delhi Metro Rail Corpn. 2007, LLR 490, Delhi High Court.

Regards,
Mohan.

Dear Sir,

I believe you can retain his experience letter and issue his relieving letter. With the current trend in employment, we have to be prepared for such situations.

Regards,
Tusher

Hi Tushar,

Thank you for your message. The issue is that the Reporting Manager has not relieved him from his duties because the Knowledge transfer or Transition handover process has not been completed. Additionally, there is a Separation form that needs to be filled out and signed by the Employee and Department Heads such as Admin, Reporting Manager, Finance, Systems, and Travel, which he has not submitted. Essentially, he has not been officially relieved, so there is no possibility of issuing him the Relieving Letter.

Best regards,
Vamsee

Hi,

In this kind of scenario, you can definitely stop his F&F settlement and hold his experience letter. Send a letter to him stating that he has not given his notice period to the company in terms of handover, which has hampered the operations of the organization. This behavior is not acceptable. Provide two copies of the letter; one should go into his personal file, and the other should be recorded in the system if possible.

Clearly mention in the letter that leaving without giving a proper handover indicates that the company documents and belongings are still with him. This action may lead to his name being blacklisted in the company. Request him to come back and complete his notice period. If he is unable to do so, settle his notice pay and ensure a proper handover.

Santosh Dubey
9960015524