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My current employer is not accepting my resignation. My official notice period is 30 days. It's been almost 10 days. I talked with my manager and he said, "I won't allow you to leave".

I already asked my new employer to extend my joining date so that I can fully serve the notice period. What should I do?

Can I leave the company without their acceptance? Can they hold my relieving letter?

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vector
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    If you search this site for "Relieving Letter", you will find many old similar questions with answers. For example, here is an old question with answers: https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/61576/dont-have-relieving-letter-from-my-first-company – Job_September_2020 Jun 14 '22 at 06:39
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    It seems that the "Relieving Letter" issue is such a common topic in some locations that this site has even added an official tag "Relieving Letter" for people to use. – Job_September_2020 Jun 14 '22 at 06:43
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    I've never heard of a relieving letter. Don't you just inform your employer you're leaving, and then stop going in when your notice is up? – Omar and Lorraine Jun 14 '22 at 09:58
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    @OmarL In India dual employment is prohibited by law, so new company always ask for relieving letter from last employer, to see you're formally released from duty. – vector Jun 14 '22 at 10:01
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    Crikey! And I thought that US at-will employment was tough on employees. These seem like pretty dystopian employment laws. – RBarryYoung Jun 14 '22 at 15:00
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    @vector, is it the employer or employee who would be breaking the law with dual employment? – spuck Jun 14 '22 at 18:00
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    @RBarryYoung At will sucks for workers when it lets them be fired at any time, but it does have a small upside for workers because they can quit at any time. Without notice or reason. – Todd Wilcox Jun 14 '22 at 21:32
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    @vector Dual employment is not prohibited by law. It is a headache for companies. Especially on who working in software side. Need to be very sure that previous employer won't be able to claim copyright or anything. So, they make very sure, especially large companies, that you are working solely for them. Government doesn't care (just more tax for them, why should they?). – Anish Sheela Jun 15 '22 at 06:42
  • @ToddWilcox at-will also makes it easier to be hired. – fectin Jun 15 '22 at 22:16

2 Answers2

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Just make sure that you have officially communicated the notice. Take a copy of email and save it your personal email or so. Tell the manager that you fully intend to leave and your last day is (date). Send an email after the conversation.

Take a backup of all your pay slips and any details such as tax documents. Serve the notice period truthfully.

Talk to the other company and explain the situation. They will likely accept the paystub and your resignation letter as proof of your employment and resignation. Formally request a relieving letter saying that you worked from this date to that date. Never mind if they won't provide one.

It is up to the employer to determine if they want to start the Knowledge transfer or just drag it out. This is a usual tactic to get you to stay at unfavorable circumstances. And never accept any counter offer, as it will be bad for you, as they can fire you on their own terms once replacement is found.

Also, remember that the law is on your side. Bonded labor is illegal and you have full right to leave a job you don't like.

Kilisi
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Anish Sheela
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  • Thanks for valuable suggestion Anish, my new company is top MNC and they're going to BGV, will it impact that process? although I already told them on email and this company is not accepting my resignation, so kindly extend my joining date so that I can fully serve the notice period, still waiting for their response – vector Jun 14 '22 at 10:39
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    @vector Just be upfront to them. It shouldn't be an issue. Its much common than you think. – Anish Sheela Jun 14 '22 at 11:36
  • That sounds like excellent advice, and what's this "Knowledge transfer" of which you speak? Is that some kind of formal de-briefing? – Robbie Goodwin Jun 14 '22 at 16:51
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    @RobbieGoodwin I took that as being the fairly common handoff of duties, documentation, etc. when leaving a role. Possibly also including training of a replacement. – Matthew Read Jun 14 '22 at 17:07
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    @MatthewRead That does sound logical and since I've only ever heard that called a "handover". I still wonder what exactly Anish actually meant. – Robbie Goodwin Jun 14 '22 at 17:12
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    @RobbieGoodwin Same thing. There might be specific nuances of the projects that I may know. On notice period, I share with rest of the team or replacement on what I know, how to do some common things and all. These happens when a new person joins or one with some experience leaves. – Anish Sheela Jun 15 '22 at 03:12
  • @AnishSheela I'd a conversation with new company hr, and they're ready to extend my joining date, so that I can fully serve it in my current company. But they still need an official acceptance or relieving letter so that it won't cause any issue when BGV team checks it. My manager is not ready to accept it, saying you can't leave without completing the project, that also not dependent on me, as we already hired 3 party to do it, and my work is just reduced to giving support to them or coordination – vector Jun 15 '22 at 08:11
  • @vector You might need to take legal advice and either way, this seems to depend on two things.

    What does your contract say about "you can't leave without completing the project"?

    What does your local jurisdiction say about leaving without your employer's consent?

    Somewhere between those two there might be a possibility of saying something like: "OK, I'll stay if you triple my salary…"

     – Robbie Goodwin Jun 15 '22 at 22:04
  • What if you dont turn up to work? – Rohit Gupta Feb 29 '24 at 01:36
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Pay slips, EPF statements, Bank statements, and Form 16 for this Financial Year would all come in handy when the other company is willing is employ you without the relieving letter. Do not assume that these would save you.

But, at the same time, do not rule out that the other company might think that you have left the company without giving any notice or that you are absconding. When background verification does happen, your company might even mention that you are absconding, if a relieving letter is not provided.

Remember, you not getting a relieving letter is your problem and not the other company's. They might tolerate this excuse for a while and later on move on with other potential candidates.

What I would suggest is to reply to your resignation email asking for the release date and cc the HR manager, your department's director, and any possible person who you think can help you out with relieving. If you have made any kind of rapport with any bigshot at the company, reach out to them. They can help you out. Remember to be polite and professional in all your emails.

Leave the company with the relieving letter, FNF statement, and any possible letters which are provided to the other ex-employees.

WonderWoman
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    Wait, so that although bonded labor is illegal, it's still on the goodwill of the company if they let you leave? You recommend asking HR and "bigshots" at the company for help, but what if they refuse? "you not getting a relieving letter is your problem" - so, if they company still refuses to give you one, you have to file a lawsuit which can possibly drag on for years, and if you don't have the financial resources to survive that, you've basically became a literal slave? And companies can then freely blackmail employees by knowing not many of them will dare to sue? – Val Jun 15 '22 at 04:15
  • @Val All I am saying is to get the relieving letter in any possible way and leave the company. – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 05:03
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    @WonderWoman Sorry to say that your answer is wrong. Although relieving letter is easy to establish the fact that you worked so and so on the company, it is not mandatory. If you can establish otherwise, its not a problem. It is common to keep employee to random with threat of this and HR is aware. Just be open on what happened and you should be safe. – Anish Sheela Jun 15 '22 at 07:24
  • @AnishSheela Right or wrong is not the question. All I am saying is to get the relieving letter in all possible ways and move out of the current company. It would always come in handy. Even if the new employer is willing to consider without this, the other ones, in the future, might not. Why even take a risk? – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 07:46
  • @AnishSheela You have shared what you have seen and I have shared what I have. Always be prepared for the worst, that is what I can say. – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 07:48
  • @WonderWoman I'd a conversation with new company hr, and they're ready to extend my joining date, so that I can fully serve it in my current company. But they still need an official acceptance or relieving letter so that it won't cause any issue when BGV team checks it. My manager is not ready to accept it, saying you can't leave without completing the project, that also not dependent on me, as we already hired 3 party to do it, and my work is just reduced to giving support to them or coordination – – vector Jun 15 '22 at 08:13
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    @vector Your manager is being unprofessional. Whatever you have mentioned here, about the project, your non-dependency on it, and other factors should be conveyed to other relevant management personnel who can help you move out of the company. As I had mentioned in my answer, if you know some contacts in this company, time to approach them. Else, find out who can help you out. There is no exact solution to this. Talking to your manager won't be of much use now. Move to the next person who can help you. – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 08:31
  • @vector What is the hierarchy of your project? Is there a delivery manager? or senior delivery manager? Whoever you approach, frame your words, carefully, and be professional throughout the conversation, personal or mail. There should be no tone of complaint against anyone in this company. Be extremely diplomatic. All you want is to move out of this company with a relieving letter. – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 08:36
  • @WonderWoman My Manager is the owner of the company, he is the director, there is no one above him. I think all the doors are closed for me, being jobless for few months will be the only relief I can get :( – vector Jun 15 '22 at 09:16
  • @vector for how long have you worked here? is it a startup or a small sized company? – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 09:53
  • @vector being jobless won't do you any good. The next company will still ask you relieving letters from previous companies, why you were jobless for a certain period of time etc. – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 10:02
  • It's not a startup, it's MSME manufacturing industry, and i've been working here from 1.5years – vector Jun 15 '22 at 10:54
  • @vector Let us continue this discussion in chat. – WonderWoman Jun 15 '22 at 11:40
  • @vector Hi. Didn't notice your last message in the chat room. Didn't get any notification, either. That chat room is frozen, now. So, how did it go? – WonderWoman Aug 21 '22 at 14:15
  • Hi @WonderWoman thanks. It goes well, he accepted the resignation on last week of notice period, got into new company as well:) – vector Aug 22 '22 at 16:14
  • @vector all's well that ends well. Congratulations on your new job – WonderWoman Aug 22 '22 at 17:41