Hello,
I am in a critical situation with my current employer, please advice.
I am working with a product development company in Chhattisgarh and I signed a bond with them for one year. I worked there for 4 months and when I did not get the appraisal that was due in the third month, I discussed with the management and they kept stalling me. In the end, when I got no definitive reply from them after a month and a half, I stopped showing up to work. I would like to mention a few points worth noting that I experienced while i was working there:
- the working hours were 10 AM to 8PM Monday to Friday with 1 hour lunch break and half an hour as evening break.
- there were times when Sunday was made working as well.
- for a period of 10 days or so, the working hours were made 9 AM to 9 PM with 1hour lunch break and half an hour evening break.
- employees were penalized for absurd reasons like coming late from breaks by 2 minutes or if they made a mistake in work (200rs - 500 rs everytime)! (what is worth noting is that we dont have a key card that tracks our timings but there were 2 people sitting at reception who noted times.)
- I never received an offer letter or appointment letter from the company.
- they are asking me to pay them 50000 INR in leiu of training provided by the employer -> which i did not receive. my seniors barely gave me any directions to work. form day 1, i have been an independent worker. i was told this is what u have to do and I had to do it all on my own. Also, if they claim they provided a training, i never received a certificate for it.
- Managers were mean and they yell at employees for no good reason.
- they never accept anybody's resignation and terminate them when they fnd someone who would work at a cheaper pay irrespective of the quality of work!
These are a couple of points i have against them. Considering all these points, it was not worth working so ahrd for sucha lousy employer who resuses to acknowledge a persons work and value it. So i stopped going to the organization. i gave a couple of medical reasons to stall them for a while because my salary was due and the history of that organization states that they never pay the employees who leave. Since they never accpeted anyone's resignation, I didn't put in mine when I wanted to leave. they sent me a couple of mails asking for medical certificates for my illness but i never responded. aftr 20 days, i received a letter via registered post from an advocate in Mumbai saying that his client requires me to either resume my employment within 10 days or pay the employer a sum of 50000 INR for the breach of employment. The letter was on Advocate's letterhead and NOT A COURT ORDER. After a lot of thinking and discussion with various people, I realized that my only lose end was that i did not resign. that is the only point they cud have against me which would make up a legal case. So i went to the office today with the resignation letter and copy (so that i can have "received by" signature as a proof that i have submitted a resignation). The manager opened the envelop, read the letter but refused to sign. He said he couldnt sign anywhere without talkin to the superiors. after a while he came back and made me speak to another management employee over the phone. She told me that you can't submit your resignation now! I told her that since i have not bene terminated yet, I am still your employee and that i have the right to resign. she kept on contradicting my point saying that it states in the agreement that you cant resign before one year is completed. This is false because my agreement states - "If the employee for any reason but completion to one year, wishes to terminate his employment with the employer during the term of present agreement, then the employee shall serve a prior notice of 45 days to the employer." She kept on ignoring my points and said that there can be no personal communication between you and the company now. the legal procedure has begun and now all communication should be done with the advocate. She also said that if you want to resign, you must mail the letter to the comapny and we will discuss with our company lawyer and revert back. She consistently kept on insisting me to pay 50000 INR. It was no less than a threat because all my valid points were being twisted and turned into their favor and against me.
I am not sure how should i handle this situation now. They wont accept my resignation letter. I am going to send a registered post tomorrow. But i am not really sure as to how should i handle these stingy people.. Any advice??
Please let me know if you need to read any of the documents they sent me or the contract of employment.
Thank you.