Ramesh 25 May 2018

I've received legal notice from my previous employer

Hello,

I need some consultation about following.

Scenario:

I was working with Mumbai based startup from 04/12/2017 to 20/04/2018. I was working remotely. As per my contract, I had to serve the notice period 1 month before releasing. I had resigned & served properly a month of notice period. The reason for leaving the company was unorganised work & got better opportunity. Now while working with the company we had some commit to finish some work till 31st March(which is normal when you are working). Since, I had decided to move out & the work was not completed because priority changes in work & other dependent factors. The company owner didn't sent me the acceptance of resignation on email & neither termination letter(Company owner was speaking nicely when I was working) & I thought things are fine.

Now I've moved to other country considering my employment is terminated & I've served proper notice period.

The company has not processed my salary & April month(for 20 days), when asked on email they says fnf is not done. Once it is done they will process.
For fnf they are considering I should finish the pending work, even though now I'm working with some other company.
More to that, they have sent me the legal notice about the work pending & company's loss.
There was nobody to handover so I had not done the handover & things were fine when I was leaving so I said I'll do it later as well.
They sent me some emails about pending work after I left the company but as I was busy with settling down at new place & new work, I did not replied them. As per our mutual discussion I was yes to work even I left the company for few pending things but I really don't work on that stuff.

My questions are below:

Do I need to reply to their legal notice? If yes, how should I do that?
I was thinking of giving handover & work on their pending things even I've left, but should I do that?
Is there any base to this legal notice, since I've served the notice period properly?

Note: I'm outside of India now!

Thanks in advance!

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2 Replies

Pradipta Nath (Advocate) 25 May 2018

Since you have tendered your resignation letter and also do well serve the notice period, you have already performed your duty.

The employer ought to find a person to handover or for a replacement within this notice period, otherwise what the relevance of serving a compulsory notice period is?

If the employer wilfully do not provide any person to take the handover or engage a new person it simply subjected itself to loss and the employee is nowhere at fault, especially when the employer remain silent after the resignation letter!

You please send your ex-employer a strong reply letter through your Advocate and request him to discharge your salary along with all other document which you are eligible to get within an ultimatum. And if require please do not hesitate to approach the Court.

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RAHUL GUPTA (MANAGER) 21 April 2021

In case if the company did not accept the resignation you serving the notice period is meaningless .

Did thay raise objections to you after you tendered the resignation while still in service ?

In case of no reply from the employer, it could be deemed acceptance .

As per Indian Laws no employer can force you to work for them against your will. You are under no obligation to complete the pending work after you submitted the resignation and served notice period.

The company should have made arrangements for your replacement by handover and handholding of another person . The loss incurred fully attributable to themselves.

Have they given you any rationale for holding back your due salary and F&F ?

You should reply to the company's notice with your claims for due salary, F&F etc to maintain pressure for your dues and thwart any legal action .

I presume you have all relevant communications on record .