What legal action can my employer take against me?

Please help me.

Moreover this is the excerpt from my appointment letter

Your employment with the Company may be terminated after giving a notice of two months or salary (Basic) in lieu thereof. You are bound to give two months notice before leaving the services of the Company. You will ensure that all your on-going activities are successfully completed and handed over as per the Company guidelines on the separation process. Depending upon business requirements. the Company may or may not accept your request to shorten serving of the notice period against the payment of salary (Basic) in lieu of such shortened notice period. 

Can they ask for the losses incurred because of resignation? That will allow them to ask from 10k to 10crore anything. Or the maximum they can aask is 2 months pay? 

P.S. Thanks to the lawyer Ajay Sethi, I pinged him and replied back instantly. Looks like companies like TCS can even ask for the losses.

You should have expressed in writing the reasons for your decision to resign in your notice of resignation and should have addressed the notice to your appointing authority, MD/CEO, Company Secretary, with a copy to Head-HR. You should have mentioned that you were subjected to rude and tortuous conduct and made to work for day and nights ( mentioning reporting time for duty, and clocked hours, breaks if any, exit time from work station, exit time from office both separately, and other data which shall prove that you were on the job from time.........to time on each day e.g. chat record, email record, SMS , time recorded on start and end of assignment/task/project etc. anything and everything) and you had represented ( even if verbally)  to Mr/Ms.........designation............dept........that it is inhuman. This could have given you weightage and handle to negotiate and provided evidence that you were coerced/ forced to work overtime without any extra wages and might have helped you to claim OT, and provided crucial evidence to establish employer is unworthy of being employed with. You should have mentioned that only routine work may granted to you on day to day basis during notice period and opportunity may be given to you to prepare and firm up your exit process and settlement dues.

You should have concluded subsequently by letter that the conduct worsened to unbearable after you submitted notice of resignation (and you have no other option than to stop coming to office, or proceed on leave, and company may waive off the notice period.) You should not have absconded. You could have submitted sick leave application.

Employee should not leave opportunity to build record and keep copies. Now the company won't let you have access to bio metric attendance, on line attendance and any other record.

Employers are known to chase the employee, to deter others . Company can charge the employee for having caused the loss. The loss has to be proved.

It is felt that you may approach a reputed, competent and experienced service lawyer, who appears from employee side, with all record you have, give inputs in person, and let your lawyer structure and draft a fitting reply. Your lawyer may advice you to wait till company issues legal notice. In the meantime you can weigh your options.

Some lawyers prefer only employer side cases.

Software companies do plead and at time have situation where employee should be at the workstation to attend ongoing projects. When the notice of resignation is served upon the company should act at once and designate a replacement and in case employee at similar designation is not available reporting authority/HO should be designated as replacement.

Thanks

The relationship between you and your employer is that of employee and employer not that of service provider/seller and consumer.  Employees enjoy certain rights in comparison to the Service providers/sellers.  For instance XYZ Co. Ltd. issued cheque to Electricity department drawn on ABC Bank Ltd.  Mr.A being the official responsible for sending the cheque for clearing kept it in draw and forgot and went on leave and returned after a fortnight.  In the meanwhile, the Electricity department for non-payment of bill in time cut off power supply to XYZ Co.Ltd. because of which factory could not run and orders could not be met and there was estimated loss of Rs.50 lacs suffered by the Company.  Company sued the Bank in court for payment of Rs.50.00 lacs.

Now in this case how far the employee is accountable?  Would the bank initiate legal proceedings against Mr.A for recovery of Rs.50 lacs from him?  Employees are not accountable in monetary terms for the losses suffered by their employers.  At the most they can be dismissed.  Even for that, the company has to initiate disciplinary proceedings, send him show cause notice as per its internal policy with regard to Discipline and Appeal Regulations, give reasonable opportunity to the employee of being heard and then only fix the quantum of punishment which in no way can be recovery of losses suffered by company unless a fraud is committed by the employee which will result in complaint to police or a legal proceeding in a Civil court to recover the moneys embezzled by the employee through fraud.

It is very strange to notice that in a country where the services sector contributes more than 50% to the GDP of the economy, the employers can fire employees at their will and commit offences at their will.  All employment legislations are only aimed at protecting the labor, workmen who are either at par with clerical cadre or unskilled labor below them but not protecting the cadres above them. 

The only legislation which compels employers to have conduct rules and policy with regard to termination is Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.  But that is meant only for workmen not for cadres above them.  Hence there is no obligation for companies to have any policy with regard to Discipline and Appeal Regulations and Conduct rules.  That means any employee (other than workmen, unskilled labor) can be fired by the companies without reason at their convenience and also initiate legal proceedings in court of law.  Now the important question of law is in the absence of a set of Conduct rules handed over to employee to know and defend his case knowing which Conduct rule he had violated, can an employer sue the employee in a court of law for losses suffered?  It appears possible in the present scheme of affairs with regard to employment laws.

It is necessary that the scope of Industrial Employment (Standing orders) Act, 1946 be extended to all employees including those in management cadre and include DA regulations in the Schedule so that companies come out with their policy with regard to DA Regulations and Conduct Rules so that employees have a right to defend themselves for any accusations/charges made against Employer against them.  The employer cannot unilaterally decide on his own certain misconduct had been indulged by the employee hence he shall be proceeded against legally in a Court of law, without having the DA regulations and Conduct rules in place.  Employees other than workman not having a remedy/forum to redress their grievances is infringement of Fundamental right guaranteed to Citizens under Article 14 of Constitution of India.  It is the responsibilit of the State to ensure law is equal for all citizens.

If the terms of service agreement relating to wages is in terms of payment of monthly salary and not sharing of profits then you are not liable to pay for the losses of the company because you are not the shareholder of the company but its employee.  Losses are to be borne by the shareholders not by the employees.

Secondly, if you belong to management then also you do not come under the class of Promoters or Shareholders as long as you receive only salary but not the share in the profits of the company.  You are management-employee.  We have a wrong notion in our country that whosoever belongs to management cadre represent ownership of the organization but in reality that is not the case.   Perhaps that wrong notion led to negligence on the part of government not to have any legislation in place to protect the interests of employees working in Management cadre in Private Sector companies.  If in public sector companies and banks there are DA regulations, Conduct rules it not because it is mandatory for them to have such rules and regulations in place.  If private sector companies do not have such rules and regulations in place, it is because it is not mandatory for them to keep. 

Take another example.  You are store manager in a company.  You are promoted as store manager and you are not given any job desription with regard to duties you have to perform.  When you leave the premises handing over the duty to some employee guarding store you do not take any stock of the goods and take the signature of that employee that he has taken charge of so much amount of goods that day.  Just you hand over keys of godown and go. 

Company colluded with the guard and some goods worth Rs.10 lacs were missing.  You did not notice and went on leave.  One fine day police land up in your house saying, you have stolen those goods and sold them in black market.  What will you do?

As Company is in their hands they can create any kind of case against you if they want. 

So I suggest you to write a letter to company asking them to send the following:

1.  Copy of show cause notice sent by them to you for alleged misconduct

2.  Service agreement/contract

3.  Copy of Conduct rules and DA regulations

4. Copy of Job descripttion letter

And ask them for violation of which conduct rule the alleged officer is being threatened with the consequence of legal proceedings and why such threatening should not be treated as Criminal intimidation under IPC.

NEED NOT TO WORRY GUYS!

HERE'S AN EXCELLENT RECENT JUDGEMENT BY KOLKOTA HIGH COURT IN FAVOUR OF AN EMPLOYEE.