# Company asking employee to stay beyond notice period



## webgenius (Oct 20, 2012)

Hi guys,

My friend is in deep trouble. Has has resigned from his job from an IT company, and the notice period in his company is 2 months.

He is ready to serve the notice period of 2 months. But recently his manager and HR told him that they can make him stay beyond the notice period also if there is a business requirement. He did not have any tasks to do at the time of resignation and now also he has not been assigned any tasks. He has already served 15 to 20 days of the notice period.

Now the manager is telling him that he will assign some testing tasks although he is a developer. Manager also told him that if he cannot complete the tasks or if there is some new requirement, they'll make him stay beyond his notice period.

Now the problem is that the company will obviously throw so much work on him that he cannot complete. Even if he completes, they'll say there is a new requirement and they will make him stay.

HR told him that they'll withhold his relieving letter if he does not agree to their terms. He also told that if they need him further, they'll give him an agreement for extending the notice period and told that he has to sign it.

Please suggest what to do guys.


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## Faun (Oct 20, 2012)

record the conversations.


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## webgenius (Oct 20, 2012)

Faun said:


> record the conversations.


How will the recording help? HR has sent him a mail stating "According to the company policy the notice period is 2 months, but if business need arises, you'll have to work after 2 months also". The mail communication is already there.

I feel what the HR is asking to do is totally illegal and unprofessional. What do you think?

My friend is thinking of sending a legal notice. He has not replied tho HR's mail yet. I told him to consider legal notice as the last option because the company will have to give him the relieving and experience letters legally. But later doing background checks, they might give bad feedback and spoil his career. Also in the relieving and experience letter, they might mention some bad remarks like saying that he was a bad performer.


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## Skud (Oct 20, 2012)

One word, legally they can't. Once you give notice and no vigilance or disciplinary actions are  pending, no one can stop you leaving on trivial grounds. And no matter what assignment you have been given, and its status. And it's better to take legal action as last resort.


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## webgenius (Oct 20, 2012)

Skud said:


> One word, legally they can't. Once you give notice and no vigilance or disciplinary actions are  pending, no one can stop you leaving on trivial grounds. And no matter what assignment you have been given, and its status. And it's better to take legal action as last resort.



There are no pending tasks/items/amount pending from my friend's end.

Actually the company can relieve him right now since he is assigned to a project but has no tasks to complete. It looks like a deliberate strategy by the company to cut down the attrition rate, which has become very high recently.


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## iinfi (Oct 20, 2012)

i v known quite a number of companies doing this just to spoil a person's career. How long has been working for this company? if it is more than 2 years, then does he have a copy of end of year assessment cycle where his rating and performance is written. If no, ask him to download it from the intranet. Keep a copy of (soft & hard) of the emails from HR. Does he have an acceptance copy of the resignation letter?
if it was sent via email does ur friend have a mail copy where his manager or HR have replied to his resignation letter? 
common sense suggests that, during the notice period you sud accept any additional responsibilities. your job sud be to delegate ur responsibilities.
reply back to the HR and manager saying "as per my mail dated xxyyzzzz i have chosen to resign from my duties as blah blah blah... as per my letter of appointment, my notice period is 2 months. my last working day in this org will be <date>. please make sure i get my relieving letter on this day. I will be leaving the town a week later and will not be in a position to take additional responsibilities."
once you have a copy of all these emails and legal notice (if it gets to that) then you have a strong point, whn the nxt employers go for background checks etc.
messy situation .. but ur friend has to handle this smartly.


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## webgenius (Oct 20, 2012)

iinfi said:


> i v known quite a number of companies doing this just to spoil a person's career. How long has been working for this company? if it is more than 2 years, then does he have a copy of end of year assessment cycle where his rating and performance is written. If no, ask him to download it from the intranet. Keep a copy of (soft & hard) of the emails from HR. Does he have an acceptance copy of the resignation letter?
> if it was sent via email does ur friend have a mail copy where his manager or HR have replied to his resignation letter?
> common sense suggests that, during the notice period you sud accept any additional responsibilities. your job sud be to delegate ur responsibilities.
> reply back to the HR and manager saying "as per my mail dated xxyyzzzz i have chosen to resign from my duties as blah blah blah... as per my letter of appointment, my notice period is 2 months. my last working day in this org will be <date>. please make sure i get my relieving letter on this day. I will be leaving the town a week later and will not be in a position to take additional responsibilities."
> ...



He has been with this company for almost 2 years now. He says he has a hard copy of the last assessment cycle and pay hike. He got a average rating.

Regarding resignation acceptance, HR has already replied that the notice period is 2 months according to company policy, but can be extended based on business requirements. I think this'll count as resignation acceptance from HR.


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## adi007 (Oct 20, 2012)

webgenius said:


> He has been with this company for almost 2 years now. He says he has a hard copy of the last assessment cycle and pay hike. He got a average rating.
> 
> Regarding resignation acceptance, HR has already replied that the notice period is 2 months according to company policy, but can be extended based on business requirements. I think this'll count as resignation acceptance from HR.



1) Escalate the matter to top most leads and HR
2) If the company is having its own forum/social network/any kind of discussion forum where employees can share things , then ask him to share his story there. Bad practice followed by firm exposed within the firm will lead to swift actions
3) Last option is legal battle / blogging / open letter


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## Flash (Oct 21, 2012)

That company, specifically the Manager/Lead is scaring the guy. 
What's the reason behind your friend's resignation - Is that personal/great pay/career or due to the unpleasant things happened between him and his Manager?

In 2nd case, its obvious that the Lead will push more work on one's notice period, as that will be the last things that do as a revenge.
Ask your friend to have a smooth exit from the company. Am not suggesting him to stay after 2 months. Just ask him to best of his things in this period.

Its human nature to not do the things with care, if the responsibility is not his/her own. In some cases, people will often come late and leave early without doing any work in their notice periods. I've seen many. Ask him to have a 1-on-1 with his lead and sort out the things, before moving to anything critical.

[DON'T DAMAGE A COMPANY'S REPUTATION IN SOCIAL NETWORKS, WITHOUT FINDING WHO IS THE PROBLEMATIC GUY FIRST- EITHER THE MANAGER OR THE HR]


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## iinfi (Oct 21, 2012)

adi007 said:


> 1) Escalate the matter to top most leads and HR
> 2) If the company is having its own forum/social network/any kind of discussion forum where employees can share things , then ask him to share his story there. Bad practice followed by firm exposed within the firm will lead to swift actions
> 3) Last option is legal battle / blogging / open letter



points 2 and 3 are not the correct way of handling this ... escalate the matter immediately to senior staff or ethics committee if there has been no issues at ur end.


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## webgenius (Oct 21, 2012)

Gearbox said:


> What's the reason behind your friend's resignation - Is that personal/great pay/career or due to the unpleasant things happened between him and his Manager?/QUOTE]
> 
> He is leaving the company because the company is not doing well now and he is looking for a stable company to settle down. Obviously with the change comes better pay and better position.
> There has been no quarrel between that guy and anyone else in the company.
> ...


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## khalil1210 (Aug 21, 2018)

Sorry to bump up old thread.. but what to do in this kind of scenario


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## Anorion (Aug 21, 2018)

1. Record all official communication - hard copy, or personal email 
2. Talk to the HR, it might just be a part of standard process


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## Randy_Marsh (Sep 4, 2018)

First of all, your friend needs to check the appointment letter which he must have signed and submitted when he joined the company. Check the terms and conditions related to the notice period. The terms mentioned in the appointment letter are the ones which is enforced to the particular employee, no matter what changes the company makes later on. If there are any changes need to be made, the employee must sign a new agreement for those changes to be applicable.

"He also told that if they need him further, they'll give him an agreement for extending the notice period and told that he has to sign it." - This is the catch. HR knows that what they are stating is not legal till your friend signs a new agreement.
Your friend should contact senior HR/leadership and this problem should go away.


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