Competitor Clause in appointment letter

Being a lawyer you may appreciate that company shall claim that you have signed the document by your free will.

Company as a master can exempt, waive the condition in your case or deny.

You need to build your defense.

Did the company mention in its job advertisement, offer letter, that employee shall have to sign a clause ……………as mentioned by you?

Or the clause was inserted in your appointment letter and appointment letter was supplied to you after you had left your previous venture and joined this employer?

Or the agreement was signed while you were in the mid of your employment?

If dispute is dragged to court of law, courts shall decide as per law of the land.

What else an employee is expected to do for 6 months sell Bhajiya……????

The restraint may very well be in force while the employee is in employment, up to the last day in office.

Company must not decline to accept the resignation on the ground that it knows your to be employer in future.

Company may proceed with any action it deems fit at its cost and consequences once you have separated and joined a company which as per current employer is its business rival/competitor.

Company can not keep an employee its captive.

If the need be you may submit in writing the list of all employees who have joined the competitor companies {including the one you wish to join} and that they have exercised their right to earn their livelihood, right to work and survive, and company has not initiated any action against them being aware of that it shall be illegal, unlawful.

However you are being singled out and are being subjected to indiscrimination.

You have initiated the process of termination probably by submitting the notice of resignation and must have written your last day in office/effective date of resignation. You should have addressed your notice of resignation to your appointing authority.

You may carefully secure the copy of resignation carrying the endorsement of your reporting authority to accept your resignation under his signature with date.

It is felt that HR has not communicated anything in writing and all transactions are verbal. Let your appointing authority communicate to you in writing.

You may issue another communicating subsequent to your resignation requesting the good offices of your appointing authority, MD, Company Secretary to ensure smooth exit formalities and to inform you in writing to whom you should handover the charge/company property and that the designated employee may be advice to issue acknowledgment to you on the spot. You may mention that routine work may be assigned to you, which can be completed within and up to your effective date of resignation. Your reporting authority may be kept in good humor and you may handover the charge to him, under acknowledgment. If you have tendered one month notice, you have notified the employer about your date of retirement, so if you are eligible for gratuity you may submit form I one month in advance, under acknowledgment and request the good offices to pay gratuity in FNF statement/settlement on your last day in office.

You may find the attachments useful.

It shall be appropriate to show a competent and exeprienced labor consultant/service lawyer, well versed with such matters, show all documents and give inputs in person, and let your lawyer evaluate the merits, and suggest appropriate forum if the need be.

In a given situation employee can invoke the Industrial Employment standing orders Act, Payment of Wages Act, SE Act, and ID Act as per explanation of employee under these Enactments or approach civil court. Designation alone does not decide employee is a workman or not.

As per Industrial Employment standing orders Act, the payment of wages and service certificate should be supplied to employee on last day in office or within 2 days.

Confirm if standing orders were applicable to your industry and company and did the company extend these to your designation. If standing orders were applicable and were not formed by your company model standing orders shall apply. The situation expressed by you may be violation of standing orders of the company.

The standing orders are to be displayed at notice board and should be supplied to employees at nominal charges. You can peruse the RTI route and request the PIO at concerned o/o Labor Commissioner {location: redg office or Corporate Office of the company} to supply you the certified copy of the certified standing orders of the company. Model Standing orders may be posted at Dept. of Labor website of your state.