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I have resigned recently from my present company. Since it's MNC and have specified that I have to complete my two months notice period.

Now since I am on verge of completing my notice period my manager is troubling in my process by adding some new tasks. I have proof that I have resigned on a particular day. I will be able to complete certain tasks, but some cannot be completed before my notified departure date. Still, my manager is creating issues.

A relieving letter is a formal letter from the employer stating your work period, current Cost to company and stating that you are relieved from your work as of this date and so on. It is mandatory that I provide it to the new employer else I could be considered as absconded and employers will not hire me.

How should I handle this situation? Is there any governing body for helping employees like me to get what is rightfully mine?

Bernhard Barker
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user10191
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  • I am not familiar with the terms you are bringing up nor the conditions of your employment. This question might better be suited for the legal stack overflow site if they have one. – ojblass Aug 05 '13 at 17:40
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    Hi there! I did some editing to clarify grammar and wording. I believe that the answers that would help you most would be connected to the region in which you live - could you add a tag noting your location? Also - if you could clarify what is "rightfully yours" - it would be helpful - is this an issue of payment of salary, or something else? – bethlakshmi Aug 05 '13 at 18:01
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    Do you expect your boss to stop giving you work before your last day? Why on earth would he do that? – HLGEM Aug 05 '13 at 19:13
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    Did you expect to be on Easy Street? – Jim G. Aug 05 '13 at 22:25
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    The language of the OP sounds vaguely Asian. If at all possible, please indicate the value or need for a 'Relieving Letter'. Do you need to present this to a new employer? Is this a matter of benefits or pension? Is it legal evidence that you are in fact no longer obligated to the employer within a contract? Is a business practice within the company, or is it more the rule within your country? – Meredith Poor Aug 05 '13 at 23:45
  • When you say verge of completion, where exactly are you ? – happybuddha Aug 06 '13 at 16:36
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    The OP is probably in India, where they have a convention that companies provide a letter outlining the employee's time at the company (start/end dates, work performed, etc.) when the employee leaves. I'm not fully sure of the ramifications of not receiving one, although previous questions have hinted that it may make starting your next job difficult. – Blrfl Aug 06 '13 at 20:27
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    @bethlakshmi this crops up often enough that a "Which culture is this?" subquestion might be a relevant addition to the question form. Perhaps something for meta? – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Aug 13 '13 at 10:38
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    This is readily doable with a tag. I don't agree that we need a new feature or form item for people to fill out. That's what fits with the traditional stack exchange model. If you go to meta, you'll see a couple conversations on tagging for location for precisely that reason. – bethlakshmi Aug 13 '13 at 20:48
  • What does MNC mean? – Keith Thompson Feb 14 '14 at 21:23
  • @KeithThompson, multi-national corporation – mkennedy Feb 15 '14 at 00:19
  • @mkennedy: That was my assumption as well, but I wanted the OP to confirm that (it might be the name of the company). But since the OP apparently hasn't been on the site since posting the question, a definitive answer is probably unlikely. – Keith Thompson Feb 15 '14 at 00:32
  • its also probably a legal Q IE the employer is potentially breaching the contract with the employee by not providing the letter – Neuromancer Feb 15 '14 at 16:57
  • @Neuro, regardless of whether it's legal or not, legal issues are notoriously hard to resolve in India due to issues with the judiciary: " the Delhi High Court has a backlog of 466 years according to its chief justice. This is despite the average processing time of 4 minutes and 55 seconds in the court. In Uttam Nakate case, it took two decades to solve a simple employment dispute." – jmac Feb 19 '14 at 02:20
  • @Blrfl, a relieving letter according to google says that the company has accepted the resignation, and that they have satisfactorily completed all their duties and are relieved from any further obligation to the company. Apparently it's a big deal to have one of these. – jmac Feb 19 '14 at 02:33
  • From what I can tell, it also includes your previous pay. I can't imagine needing to prove to my next employer what my previous employer paid me! Seems like a racket, to me. – corsiKa Jun 24 '15 at 16:58

2 Answers2

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The only situation where a manager can 'create issues' by adding some new tasks, is when you already had a list and projected dates of when you will be able to complete the tasks on hand, on the day you sent your resignation letter.

If this is the case, you have to make sure you are managing expectations appropriately and keeping an electronic trail of all your interactions with your manager. Most of the times it is the HR that issues the relieving letter so in your case you could email the HR with details (the email trail with your manager) of what was agreed upon.

You will obviously have to do whatever is asked of you till you are an employee. I think a couple of days before your last working day you could send out an email to the manager and HR asking if they need anything from you. This will also act as a reminder.

happybuddha
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  • Its the HR that usually provides a relieving letter and not the manager. If the relieving letter was not being provided only because the guy didn't complete his tasks, then, as mentioned, he could 'Email him/her with details of what was agreed upon and that new additional tasks do not fit in the current window of time.' and take it from there. – happybuddha Feb 17 '14 at 01:10
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Until you leave your current job, you are still working at that job. This applies whether you are on a "i'm leaving" notice period or not. This means you and your employer are bound by whatever agreements may be in place. You may have a contract, or your union may have a contract, that determines what is allowed to occur during a notice period. If you're part of a union, go ask your union representative to help you figure it out. If you have a contract, review the contract - with the help of a lawyer if needed.

In the region with which I am familiar, if you have no special agreement with your employer then you do what your boss asks of you (though it's not a bad idea to suggest creating an exit transition plan, and executing on that plan, to make sure things go smoothly).

EDIT

In the original verbiage of the question, it the question appeared to mean something different than it does now, after edits. If the guess about India is correct, then my experience may not be relevant.

That said, you can try contacting your HR department. Or you can ask your manager when you should expect your letter. If you are looking for legal advice, you could try going to a lawyer.

Your manager can continue to give you work, and you can continue working on it. This can include things that will transition you out of your current role, like documenting processes, or how far you got on a particular project. It can include new tasks, like resolving a new customer inquiry.

If you don't know which activity you are expected to prioritize, you need to ask your manager what they want done. After all, there's limited time left, and you (may) want to make sure it is as useful to the company and the rest of the team as possible.

atk
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    Care to explain the down votes? – atk Aug 06 '13 at 13:12
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    I only just downvoted right now, because the first two paragraphs are not relevant. They might have been relevant in an earlier version of the question, but not now. The remaining paragraphs under the edit title are too vague to be helpful, since this is a specific question about this special kind of employment release contract. The OP is (obviously) aware that new work can be assigned, but how to handle the fact that the manager is abusing the ability to arbitrarily extend the final date of employment? "Talk to HR" or "Talk to a lawyer" are better just as comments than an answer. –  Feb 19 '14 at 15:24
  • @EMS: I disagree. While your interpretation is that the manager is arbitrarily extending the final date of employment, that's not specifically stated in the question. The only thing the question says is that OP is being assigned additional work. I believe that this answer is as complete as possible, given the limited information that the OP provided. – atk Feb 19 '14 at 15:27
  • I understand. we simply disagree about it. My opinion is in the minority, given that you have at least 7 up-votes, but I still feel it is worth documenting my dissent about the appropriateness of this answer. –  Feb 19 '14 at 15:39
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    @atk so your saying in India its impossible for an employee to "frustrate" a contract - I doubt that is actually true – Neuromancer Feb 19 '14 at 18:21
  • @Neuromancer, that is not what I'm saying at all. Please go back and read my comment 5 hours before this one. – atk Feb 19 '14 at 20:36