Bond termination
angeristrue
(Querist) 17 March 2013
This query is : Resolved
I got a job offer from an IT company and due to illness after two months i was hospitalised..i couldn inform through phone and mailed the manager and HR that i couldn come to office and am not well..but frm the head quarters they sent me 3 letters to join immediately.my HR didnt say anything about my illness but i informed her abt the letter but they blocked my employee mail access. its been 7months. the bond is for 18 months and can i ask them that i need the job? they have sent me letter that i should pay the bond which i signed when i joined the company. pls advise me wat to do
Kumar Doab
(Expert) 17 March 2013
Your company must have provided Group Medical Insurance, Mediclaim Policy, ESIC card and you could have submitted the bills for reimbursement.
You must be having the record of hospitalization, copies of which you could have sent to the company along with the sick leave application, letters sent by you to regularize the sick leave, and you could have visited the office to rejoin the duty
This is such a simple thing which any one at your home, amongst your near and dear ones/friends/colleagues/peers could have guided you on it.
Had you called your company on phone they could have appraised you on the procedure.
Most probably your company had terminated your employment in its records, when it blocked your official email id.
If you approach them they would surmise you had absconded and have not been able to find another job/are out of job, and that is why you are calling to rejoin.
The management which is running a company is not naïve.
The bond which you have signed does not entitle you to stake claim on job and rejoin.
The company has already claimed the payment of amounts stated in the bond signed by you.
The document being named as bond by you might be a service agreement, and amount being named as bond money by you might be amount mentioned as liquidated damages. It is not clear whether there is a clause on arbitration with venue of arbitration, inserted in the bond signed by you.
If the company has not spent any money on your training which added to your educational qualification, some extra ordinary skills, it may not succeed in getting you pay for the bond money.
However it may issue legal notice to you and even pull you to court.
Therefore first of all you may approach a competent and experienced labor consultant/service lawyer, with your elders in the family and show the appointment letter, bond, letters sent by you on your hospitalization, record of hospitalization, letters sent by company to you claiming bond money, give inputs in person, spend quality time with your lawyer, and proceed under expert advice of your lawyer.
Secondly you may find another job.
Valuable advice of learned experts/members is sought.
Guest
(Expert) 17 March 2013
It seems, none else other than you, who has created complications in your own case. If you knew that the employer blocked your employee mail access, was that the only source of communication for you to respond to their letters? You must have sent your reply by Registered Post or Speepd Post through Post Office, or would have used courier service, stating your helplessness by attaching your medical certificate also.
No employer can be expected to wait indefinitely for its employee to return or not on duty. He has to recruit someone else to accomplish the jobs of the absentee employee. It clearly seems, you would not have woken up to serve the employer even after 7 months had you not received notice to pay for the breach of bond.
Now if you feel the need to rejoin, why don't you write letter stating your compulsions and requesting them to reinstate you in service or to meet them personally to make a request for concession? If they agree on your request, you can save yourself from payment of penalty for breach of bond. Otherwise, unless some conditions of bond is legally invalid, you would be legally bound to pay the bond amount due to your hasty decision to sign the bond, without being ready to join the post.
Legality of bond can be possible to be judged only on detailed examination of the terms of bond.
Raj Kumar Makkad
(Expert) 17 March 2013
Nothing to add more as both experts have advised very well.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 17 March 2013
well advised by Dhingraji and Kumar Doab
R.K Nanda
(Expert) 17 March 2013
no more to add.
