Satyajit Singh (Senior Software Engineer) 26 February 2015

Terminated and denied relieving and experience certificate

Hi,

I was terminated and after several requests I have been denied my relieving letter and experience/service certificate. I am not able to join any organisation based on the termination letter provided by my previous employer. Can anyone please help me?

Below are the contents of my termination letter.

"In response to the Show cause letter (Ref: RS/Letter/14/57) handed over to you on November 13, 2014, you replied mentioning that you have
undergone a surgery for anal fissure and would not be able to travel as advised by your doctor.
This response is in contradiction with your earlier statements made during multiple rounds of discussion with your manager XXXXX XXXX,
Designation, XXXXX XXXX – Senior Technical Consultant and XXXXX XXXX( RAC Manager) wherein you confirmed that you would only be able
to travel provided your demands specific to your India & UK salary are being met.

Furthermore, you had a discussion with XXXXX XXXX and the undersigned on 31 October 2014 wherein you had reiterated your demands with
respect to your salary. In this discussion, you were informed about non acceptance of any assignment can lead to termination and by refusing
to take up the assignment you are violating Clause II of the Terms of Employment. You clarified that you are aware of what you are doing and
are ready to face the consequences of your actions.
Based on the above discussions, the show cause letter was issued mentioning your stand that “you are ready to travel UK only if you are offered
the specific package as per your demand”. The show cause letter sought an explanation for your behavior and unrealistic demands to carry out
your responsibilities in UK.
In several round of discussions, you kept on reiterating the salary demands without mentioning anything pertaining to inability to travel due to
health issues.
Hence, your response to this show cause letter fails to explain your behavior and unrealistic demands.
Please note your action tantamount to insubordination and is a violation of Clause II of Terms of Employment of your offer letter which has
resulted in Business loss for the organization which is unacceptable.
In view of the above, you are hereby being informed that the organization has decided to terminate your employment effective the close of
business hours of November 28, 2014.
You are requested to accept your full and final settlement cheque along with the calculation details."

I had gone through a surgey anal fistula and I had communicated verally about my inability to travel. Despite that my managers kept on pushing and then I wrote an e-mail "that I would be able to travel if my compensation demands are met in UK and India salary."

My recovery was complicated and required daily attention which was very difficult in UK as the company does not provide private medical care in UK.

My conduct has been very good and my work was very much appreciated by UK Clients. I worked for 2 years in UK and then I had to come back as my organisation lost against the competitors, similarly several other resources returned. Later after 1 month I was requested by the UK clients that they would need me and I was asked to travel again when this had happened. I returned from UK on Sept 13, I had a surgery on 3rd Oct and my organisation asked me to travel on 1st Nov based on client request. My doctor advised no travel till 21st Nov.

I have already received a couple of employment offers but I am not able to join any organisation as I was declined any relieving and service/experience certificate.

My conduct and behaviour has been very good everywhere. This is my feedback by my client in UK.

" In the last 10 months, I am really proud working with Satyajit and with in such short time he has became important player in our team. He has worked really hard to build his knowledge on our Product and gave him required confidence to work on such mission critical system. His ability to go beyond this capacity to help others is an exceptional and the way he presented his “You choose it” session was fantastic. In future, I would like to see him working independently and handle project of his own. I also want him to interact with other teams to increase his visibility."

Please suggest something as my career is being ruined because of all these.

Any response would be highly appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

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4 Replies

V. VASUDEVAN (LEGAL COUNSEL) 26 February 2015

Every Employer is bound to issue a relieving letter and service certificate under the S&E Act and you can write a notice with 15 days time to the CEO/Directors and failing compliance, complain to the Labour Inspector

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 February 2015

You have posted that:

-----“I had gone through a surgey anal fistula and I had communicated verally about my inability to travel.”

“My recovery was complicated and required daily attention which was very difficult in UK as the company does not provide private medical care in UK.”

“I had to come back as my organisation lost against the competitors, similarly several other resources returned. Later after 1 month I was requested by the UK clients that they would need me and I was asked to travel again when this had happened.”

“I returned from UK on Sept 13, I had a surgery on 3rd Oct and my organisation asked me to travel on 1st Nov based on client request. My doctor advised no travel till 21st Nov.”

“I was declined any relieving and service/experience certificate.”

----You may contest that:

: the feedback on your medical condition was not taken into notes and on record by the IO and others.

:The demand of compensation included and meant to include the medical care………….and demanding enough for medical care is no insubordination…….

: The company had already lost business and hence there is no question of business loss due to you.

: The clients of the company specifically demanded that you be deputed and this is no business loss to the company.

------Did your doctor advise in writing that you should not travel upto the dated………….?

Did you submit leave application till this date?

If yes the termination during sick leave may be termed bad order……..and called back.

------Model Standing Orders;Sec16 makes it mandatory to issue Service Certificate on the day of termination.

------Relieving Letter ; signifies that nothing is pending at the end of employee.

The company has not claimed that there is anything pending at your end.

------Has the company declined to supply the service Certificate, Relieving Letter in writing?

------Consult an able labor Law Consultant/Service Matters lawyer/Law firm and your counsel may advise that the termination order is Bad and can be successfully contested and called back.

-------There are many IT/ITeS employees unions now and have affiliated with trade Unions like CITU/INTUC/AITUC/BMS …………………..and can help you.

Employee should preferably be member of unions.

Satyajit Singh (Senior Software Engineer) 26 February 2015

Thanks you all for your kind response, this is of great help.

I do not have proof of declining to travel due to medical as it was on telecon and verbal communication with my Managers and HR teams.
I did apply all my leaves, infact there were only 4 sick leaves annually and I had to apply other days with planned leaves with comments "Sick Leave". I also had to go as Loss of Pay because I did not have enough leaves or they could not be clubbed(sickness+planned leave). I used company Leave application system for all this and occasionally communicated in company email too.
I had shared doctors written letter when they served me SHOW Cause notice.
The clients specifically demanded me and no one else could replace me in RS Software.
Service certificate was not issued on day of termination.
The company declined to supply service certificate, relieving letter in writing. They have shared a full and final settlement sheet, they paid me in full for my notice period of 2 months.
I had explained my managers clearly of my problem as I had to take sit-bath and daily dressing by a certified medical practitioner but they never took that into notice before. I have also written these things on company email several times. As such I did not mention the compensation was for medical care, but I did mention that it would help me compensate the risks involved in carrying out the duties as a response to the show cause notice.

As the email account is with my organisation I do not have access to some information, I shared and sent internally. Is it possible to track my organisation email account or request something like that.

Thanks a lot for your responses. This is really great help and advise.
Thank you all.

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 February 2015

It shall be appropriate to show all docs on record to your able labor Law Consultant/service matters Lawyer and proceed further under expert advice of your lawyer.

Software/IT/ITeS companies are covered by ( Name of the state) Shops and Commercial Establishments Act that was enacted to govern the service conditions of employees working in such establishments…………………………

You may go thru this Act as in your state.

The Act may not differentiate between ‘Workman’ and ‘Non Workman’ and your Labor Law Consultant/Service matters lawyer/Law firm/Unions Leaders may opine that you are covered by the def. of ‘Employee’ as in the Act and as ‘Workman’ as in ID Act………….and that you can demand access to all internal communications submitted by you……………

Standing orders are applicable and you may go thru;Model Standing orders………..

1. Leave policy of the company can provide superior benefits compared to ( Name of the state) Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, but can not provide inferior benefits.

You may check what is the number of sick leaves as in the Act. You may also show the appointment letter, HR policy/service Rules and regulations stated in appointment letter,employee hand book/conduct and discipline rules/leave policy, all emails etc….

Leave is personal matter and can be applied on plain paper too. You can demand copies of leave applications ‘titled as Sick leave’ by you.

The company has to maintain various registers prescribed under ( Name of the state) Shops and Commercial Establishments Rules…………………….for employee’s including for leave record and Inspector appointed under the Act can Inspect in company’s office and call for such registers in his/her office…………………………….You can pursue RTI route thru Inspector……………..

It is one of the duties of the Inspector to ensure that all a/cs of the employee are cleared and all docs are supplied.

e.g;

Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, 1954

22. Leave.- (1) Every person employed in an establishment shall be entitled—

(b) in every year, to sickness or casual leave for a total period of not less than twelve days:

The company has to supply the acceptance/declinature of leave in writing.

You may also refer to Model Standing Orders;Sec;9

Your lawyer can help you to cover the loopholes by drafting your representations after examining your docs and inputs.

Your lawyer and unions can act upon the written declinature to supply the service certificate/relieving letter.....................and to call back termination order and help you to understand the merits.