I joined an IT company at a middle management level and with respect to my level, there was no probation period applicable i.e I was a confirmed employee from day 1. After working for about 7 months, I developed a kidney stone problem and was subsequently hospitalized for the same (company was aware of that). The stone was in the formation stage and could not be detected at that time. After about a month, I had another pain attack and was diagnosed with a 1 cm stone which had to be surgically removed. I flew back to my hometown for the surgery and a stent was inserted in the ureter. I was not allowed to travel and as per the doctor I have a tendency of forming recurring stones and will be an ongoing issue (was said over a verbal discussion with the doctor).
Considering the situation, I resigned from the company on 30th April 2011 seeking immediate relieving under medical circumstances. My appointment letter says "Termination of Service: During your employment with the company, a notice of 60 days is required to terminate employment from either side. the company may terminate your employment by payment in lieu of 60 days notice, without assigning any reason whatsoever, at the sole discretion of the company. If at your request, the company agrees to relieve ypu before serving the full notice period, you will be liable to pay the company on lieu of the balance notice period. However, please note that accepting any such early relieving request would be entirely at the discretion of the company."
I have resigned via email marking my immediate manager and HR under medical circumstances and also have submitted my hospitalization reports to the corporate insurance provider. Also, I did send in the resignation by registered post attaching a copy of the email resignation. After this the HR replied back to the email saying that I either need to serve the entire notice or pay it off to which I replied stating that I cannot stay in Chennai and not in a position to pay it off due to heavy medical expenses. I have not received any reply to it yet.
Now I want to know: 1. If I take up a job with another company near my hometown providing them the copy of the email resignation and the physical mail, would it turn out to be legitimate in background verification check. Can my previous company put me in absconding status and negate the verification?
2. Is there any law which governs this kind of situation and discourages companies to exploit employees under such circumstances.
3. I was hospitalized and submitted the claim for the same while I was still with the company, the insurance company has cleared the claim and issued a cheque which my company is refusing to provide to me. Can something be done about it?
Please help me with this. I have received a few offers with good companies but am skeptical to join as not sure what would the verification turn out to be!!
26 May 2011
You have to be carefull. Your old Company is right. The only way out is to politely ask your old Company to relieve you with immediate effect on compassionate grounds. I am sure your case will be considered. Employers have to enforce rules so that people dont take undue advantage. Since you have a genuine problem, most probably they will agree.
26 May 2011
Thank you for the advice Ashok. My old company is behaving really insensitively and trying to bully me around. I have been out of the system for about 2 months now, so there is no handover/KT pending. I read somewhere that if you send the resignation via registered post, that is considered to be legit and turns green on background checks. Is that true? Also, is there something called "Right to Resign"? Do I have any constitutional liberty to deal with this? Please advice.
26 May 2011
Sorry, You have all the right to resign, but under the rules and regulations/terms of appointment etc. What do you mean by constitutional liberty ? As regards back ground check and feedback, that depends on the Company. Resignation is legitimate but on feedback check the Company has all the right to give whatever feedback report they want-good or bad and you can not do anything about it.. You have used the word green. What does it mean ?
26 May 2011
by constitutional liberty i meant if there is a law which prevents companies from harassing employees (forcing them to serve notice or pay it off) if there are genuine medical conditions for resigning. Also, by green I meant that the future companies consider resignations sent by registered post to be legit and bypass the need for a relieving/experience letter.True/false? Also, since I've already resigned, can the company put me in absconding status? Is that permitted by law?
26 May 2011
Yes. Have you cleared all dues and obtained no dues certificate from the Company ? I dont think so. In that case the Company can pronounce you as absconder. Relieving/experience letter is a mustfor joining most of the good companies. Sending resignation by registered post may not mean anything for a new Company. How would you prove that the registered letter you sent to your old company contained your resignation. In worst scenario you could have sent a blank envelope. Can you prove that. My advice is settle the matter politely. No Company wants to harass their employees unnecessarily. Or have you given them a cause to do so so ? Have introspection and settle with your old employers in an amiable way. When you join a company, you agree to terms of appointment. Company is simply enforcing those terms. You can not name it as harassment. Agan I repeat settle the matter amicably by paying the dues, It will be in the interest of your future employment.
26 May 2011
All the dues are clear and I did mention in the query that they are not even giving my insurance cheque. Which company would do that, I mean that isnt even their concern to give or not give my cheque to me. Its just that as a part of the procedure, the insurance company sent the cheque over to the HR to be handed over to me! There must be some legal procedure to claim it back?
Also, on the registered post envelop, I did mention the contents of the package and took a photocopy of the same with the post office stamp on it. Also, since everything is web tracked these days, I was able to print out a copy of the delivery status. Would this not suffice the cause, if not then please suggest how to proceed in a legal way because I am pretty sure that I am not getting a relieving letter from the company just by sweet talking!
26 May 2011
Sorry, no way out. Pay their dues and get clearance, No legal remedy and my advice is do not get into all that. It is very time consuming,expensive and futile exercise.
26 May 2011
Can the post master testify that the letter you sent contained resignation letter ? Post offices do not verify the contents and you have no proof. The procedure you followed is not tenable.
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