Need legal advice regarding a legal notice served to me by my employer
4 months ago
I'm a software engineer, I used to work in a Gurgaon based startup and there I joined as an intern initially at the time of my final semester and after my semester was done I joined full time. After my final semester was done I moved there, while I was still an intern, and the flight fare and 7 days hotel accommodation was provided by the company. After one month there, I resigned as intern and joined full-time accepting a new offer letter. But after 7 months after that I got fired with 16 days notice period given by the company. But there was a caluse on the agreement of some amount to be paid to the company if I leave the company before 2 years. Though it feels wrong but I was prepared to pay the amount but they add the relocation amount as well which was paid to me as means of flight fare and hotel accommodation at the time of intern and there is no clause regarding that in my offer later. I aksed my HR for a justification and they send me a legal notice mentioning that I left the company abruptly without serving a 60 days notice so I need to pay the same ammount previously asked plus 10000 for the legal notice. I have evidence of call recoding from my manager asking me to reaign and setting my last working day. Also a lot of mails from the HR head. What should I do now ?
For a breach of the terms of a contract, an employer can take legal action against the employee claiming damages arising out of the breach. Even if you are an intern or probationer you are governed by the terms and conditions of your appointment letter. But the action of the employer can be challenged by invoking Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 which prohibits any agreement in restraint of trade and profession. The law states that an agreement (employment bond) will be illegal only if it restrains someone from exercising a lawful profession/ trade/ business. As per the mandate of Section 27, any terms and conditions of an agreement that directly or indirectly compels the employee to serve the employer or puts a restriction on them joining the competitor or other employer is not valid. The employee has the right to resign from the employment even if he has agreed to the employment bond to serve the employer for a specific period of time. In the case where the employer is able to prove that the employee is joining the competitor to disclose the trade secret then the court may issue an injunction order restricting the employee from joining the competitor. Further, Section 73 of the Contract Act, 1872 makes provision for unliquidated damages. Section 74 of the Act deals with liquidated damages and no compensation is attracted for mere breach of contract u/s.73. or 74 of the Act unless such breach resulted in an actual loss or damage to the opposite party employer. So, in the prevailing situation, if you are not holding the position of Manager/Supervisor but a workman as defined u/s.2(s) of the Industrial Dispute Act then after serving a counter-legal notice to the Company, reach out to the concerned Labour Commissioner office for filing a complaint against the Company to redress your grievance over alleged arbitrary and unfair labour practice. Otherwise, you have to file a civil suit against the Company seeking appropriate relief.
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