brijwij
Hi

I was employed by a company ABC for roughly a year. The circumstances of me leaving the company ABC is a bit unfortunate for me.

I was informally asked by my manager to look outside for a job. He said if I could not find a suitable position soon, then he would have to start formal proceedings. So I was able to find a different job [with company XYZ] within two weeks. Since my appointment order with company ABC stated that there is a notice period on one month on both sides, I informed the company XYZ that I could join them after 1 month.

I resigned from ABC on March 24th. As per the joining order from XYZ, I was supposed to join XYZ on Apr 25th. But ABC asked me to leave by March 31st.

I assumed that they invoked the right to have me not attend office. But in that case I feel I am entitled to the pay. I contacted the HR SPOC several times for clarification on this point. But so far she has not responded to my mails and is completely ignoring my mails.

I have given the relevant notice period verbiage from the offer letter. Please advise if points 9.3 and 9.4 can be applied in my case.

==============

9.1 Subject to sub-paragraph 9.1 below or during the probationary period (if applicable), the minimum period of

notice that the firm will give you to terminate your employment is 30 days. The minimum period of written

notice that you are required to give the firm is 30 days.

9.2 Notwithstanding sub-paragraph 9.1, the firm reserves the right to terminate your contract without any notice if

it has reasonable grounds to believe that you are guilty of gross misconduct (which shall, without limitation,

include any breach of any of the provisions of this contract of employment), in which case no notice or pay in

lieu of notice will be due.

9.3 The firm reserves the right to require you to remain at home and/or not to undertake all or any of your duties

of employment and/or not to contact certain clients or colleagues during part or all of any period of notice of

termination of your employment (whether given by you or the firm), provided that your cost to company is paid

and contractual benefits are provided in the usual way. For the avoidance of doubt, you will continue to be

bound by your duties and obligations to the firm until the end of the notice period.

9.4 Instead of a period of notice pursuant to sub-paragraph 9.1 above or any other period of notice applicable to

your employment at the relevant time, the firm may, at its discretion, elect to pay you a sum equivalent to the

cost to company (but not benefits) which you would have received during your notice period.

==============

Please let me know if you need more information from me.

Thanks & Regards

B

From India, Bangalore
tajsateesh
1637

Hello brijwij,
Your situation is understandable....given the attitude of Company ABC.
You have a valid & genuine right to ask for the Notice Period payment.

However, the Agreement seems to have been pretty cleverly drafted--The salary DURING Notice Period is ONLY BY IMPLICATION [by virtue of the other 9.x clauses] & NOT EXPRESSLY MENTIONED in Clause 9.1, if you read it carefully [it only speaks of the notice period, NOT of 'how much' salary, etc].

Pl confirm if you got ALL your Papers that you need to have IN-HAND to join Company XYZ [Relieving Letter, Experience Letter, etc]. If you haven't, then just wait for them...to be IN YOUR HAND.
Also, pl confirm if you joined Company XYZ or not.

If your answer to BOTH queries above is YES, then suggest contact a lawyer with all the relevant papers & get a letter drafted to be sent to the Company ABC suitably. I suggest you to be MENTALLY PREPARED for a long haul in this matter.....especially if it does go legal.

There's another thought that comes to my mind.....BUT NOT SURE if it's practical/realistic.
NASSCOM has a Directory'Registry for Employers to mention 'absconding/problematic' employees [basically those who jumped/skipped the Notice Period]. I am not sure if NASSCOM has a similar Register/Directory for Companies like your's. Suggest check it out with your friends in other IT Companies [pl note that there's a possibility that it MAY NOT be so direct as it's for blacklisting employees]. If that facility does exist, I think you have a much quicker solution--AND PL SHARE IT ON CiteHR.

All the Best.

Rgds,
TS

From India, Hyderabad
brijwij
TS, Thanks for your response and I am sure the company ABC has an excellent team of legal eagles who draft these offer letters in such a way it seems fair to a casual reader. But a subject matter expert (like you) can see through it.
I have got all the papers that I need to join XYZ and I have already joined XYZ.
I am planning to give some more time to the HR, then take it to the higher-ups (like the head of my division , and maybe the global head of my division). If I feel I am still being stonewalled, then I might go the legal route.
ABC is a very big company and I feel NASSCOM would prefer to side with ABC. So NASSCOM route might not be viable for me.
Regards
B

From India, Bangalore
brijwij
To whoever had modified the title asking for the clarification of the clause, the clauses have been listed in the original post. For your reference, I have pasted the 4 clauses below.

==============

9.1 Subject to sub-paragraph 9.1 below or during the probationary period (if applicable), the minimum period of
notice that the firm will give you to terminate your employment is 30 days. The minimum period of written
notice that you are required to give the firm is 30 days.
9.2 Notwithstanding sub-paragraph 9.1, the firm reserves the right to terminate your contract without any notice if
it has reasonable grounds to believe that you are guilty of gross misconduct (which shall, without limitation,
include any breach of any of the provisions of this contract of employment), in which case no notice or pay in
lieu of notice will be due.
9.3 The firm reserves the right to require you to remain at home and/or not to undertake all or any of your duties
of employment and/or not to contact certain clients or colleagues during part or all of any period of notice of
termination of your employment (whether given by you or the firm), provided that your cost to company is paid
and contractual benefits are provided in the usual way. For the avoidance of doubt, you will continue to be
bound by your duties and obligations to the firm until the end of the notice period.
9.4 Instead of a period of notice pursuant to sub-paragraph 9.1 above or any other period of notice applicable to
your employment at the relevant time, the firm may, at its discretion, elect to pay you a sum equivalent to the
cost to company (but not benefits) which you would have received during your notice period.

==============

Thanks
B

From India, Bangalore
tajsateesh
1637

Hello brijwij,
Glad to know that you have joined XYZ....in a way you are lucky. There are many who get stuck midway.
Your PoA to contact the higher-ups is good....follow it.
Coming to the NASSCOM route, my reason for taking that route are different.
Most people/companies hesitate to adopt an action--especially gross wrong-doings--if they find it could go into public domain. They fear public reaction MORE than the law. In these days of internet, this can very easily be put into practice.
The reason I mentioned this route was this.
BTW, I am no 'subject matter expert'. I am into this by virtue of 'practice', NOT by experience, much less any relevant qualifications.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS

From India, Hyderabad
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