Employment related
3 years ago
I had joined a reputed IT company last year. Being a fresher I had to sign an agreement to serve the company for atleast two years or else pay a fine of Rs 2 Lakh in case of breach of contract. Since, for a long time, I was not given any project to work on, I left the job without giving any proper notice about my absence as I feared that they would ask for penalty. Now they have sent me a warning email to pay the penalty for breach of contract (Reason : absconding from work), or else they will initiate a legal action against me. What should I do? If I give a formal resignation stating actual reasons, will it help? Can a company really initiate legal action against a fresher who was not even allocated to a project?
Sandip Bhowmick
Responded 3 years ago
Rameshwar Dadhe
Responded 3 years ago
Ayantika Mondal @ Prime Legal
Responded 3 years ago
They have right to file but need to fight it base on merit/s. you should reply to all the emails and notice legally. Also issue a legal notice to counter their claim asap.
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For instance, in the case of Sicpa India Limited v Shri Manas Pratim Deb,8 the plaintiff had incurred expenses of INR 67,595 towards imparting training to the defendant for which an employment bond was executed under which the defendant had agreed to serve the plaintiff company for a period of three years or to make a payment of INR 200,000. The employee left the employment within a period of two years. To enforce the agreement the employer went to the court, which awarded a sum of INR 22,532 as compensation for breach of contract by the employee. It is crucial to note that though the bond stipulates a payment of INR 200,000 as compensation for breach of contract, the judge had considered the total expenses incurred by the employer and the employee's period of service while deciding the compensation amount. Since the defendant had already completed two years of service out of the agreed three year period, the judge divided the total expenses of INR 67,595 incurred by the plaintiff into three equal parts for three years period and awarded a sum of INR 22,532 as reasonable compensation for leaving the employment a year before the agreed time period. Similarly, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in the case of Satyam Computers v Leela Ravichander,9had also reduced the compensation amount considering the period of service of the employee.