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I was communicated over call with HR and senior manager that due to low business activity some positions are going to be made redundant and I am one of them. They communicated this over call and there was no email as such and they told they want me to send the resignation email. They also told that I would be receiving my 2 months salary plus gratuity etc. But nothing is communicated over email so far. They asked me to put my last working day as Dec 10 which is only 1 and 1/2 month.

When I checked with HR they told once I send resignation email they will send the next steps. I don't know what to do next.

Funny thing is they have hired recently for similar positions which are not impacted in this layoff.

Stupid_Intern
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    Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on [meta], or in [chat]. Comments continuing discussion may be removed. – Kilisi Nov 16 '23 at 22:14

8 Answers8

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A decent company would either give you notice and pay everything they are legally required to pay, or they will write a contract that says you resign and that specifies exactly what they will do for you to compensate you for resigning.

If they say "send a resignation email and then we take further steps" then they 100% want to cheat you. Once you sent that resignation email you lost any rights that you might have. It's the best thing you could for the company and the worst thing possible for yourself.

gnasher729
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    Depending on labor laws, sending a resignation could be seen as legally "I quit" rather than "I was let go/fired/laid off". I'm not sure about India, but in the USA "I quit" means you cannot collect unemployment insurance while looking for another job, while "I got laid off" or the company saying "you are being laid off" means you can collect unemployment insurance. @Stupid_Intern, be careful about what you decide. Get to know labor law first. – Greg Burghardt Nov 15 '23 at 18:34
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    @GregBurghardt Lawyers know the law. They will know what to do. @_Stupid_Intern Do not sign anything. Do not do what they are asking you. –  Nov 16 '23 at 03:06
  • Yes this is suspicious from the employer to say the least, there must be reasons. For example here in France you cannot hire for the same job after having laid off someone for economical reasons, for a definite time. So forcing the employee to resign would be a way to be able to replace the person without having to give justification / be bothered by a law. There should be a compensation for termination on a mutual agreement, and in some countries it may even be illegal to try to force someone to resign – Kaddath Nov 16 '23 at 11:38
  • @GregBurghardt there are no unemployment insurance in India unfortunately – Stupid_Intern Nov 16 '23 at 17:00
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    @GregBurghardt almost regardless of local labor laws, a signed "i resign" paper is going to give OP an uphill paper when stacked against an unrecorded, verbal "you're fired" discussion, especially if two out of three participants lie and deny the conversation ever happened. – stannius Nov 17 '23 at 00:35
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    an uphill battle – stannius Nov 17 '23 at 00:50
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    And by asking you to do this over a call (and not in writing) they are covering their tracks. If you then want to go to court for what you are owed it becomes your word against theirs with no proof of them coercing you to quit. Even scummier. – TheEvilMetal Nov 17 '23 at 06:21
  • This exact thing happened to me at a previous job. Later on, I found out that by "voluntarily" resigning I'd forfeited my right to collect unemployment. – octern Nov 18 '23 at 10:06
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There's a reason that HR is avoiding putting anything in writing. If they're hiring at the same time they're making positions redundant, one possible reason could be that they're eliminating positions in your salary bracket and replacing them with people who cost less and are performing the same work -- which is illegal in certain cases. This aligns with the cost-cutting measures you've mentioned.

If you resign and later find out that what I've described is indeed the case, you probably wouldn't have any recourse because you resigned. On the other hand, if the company terminated you and replaced you with cheaper employees doing the same work, they could end up in trouble. I'm not an attorney and I don't know anything at all about labor laws in India, but this article suggests that I might be on to something about illegal dismissals.

Your situation is really fishy. I'd recommend that you talk to an attorney in your area before you sign any papers or resign. If you have any communications between you and HR, keep screen shots of any Teams conversations, and forward any emails to a personal account so that you retain proof of what has transpired.

Just remember that HR is not your friend here. HR is there to maintain business continuity, even if it means throwing you under the bus.

Best of luck.

Xavier J
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    Is it illegal in India? – Robin Whittleton Nov 15 '23 at 18:50
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    @RobinWhittleton That's probably a question for [law.se]. You should ask it! – wizzwizz4 Nov 15 '23 at 19:54
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    HR is never your friend. Their only reason for existing is to keep the company out of trouble. If convincing you to do something against your best interests can do that, they won't hesitate for a second. – Mark Ransom Nov 18 '23 at 05:24
  • There are situations where the company's best interest and your best interest agree. For example if an employer badly violates your rights; HR may very well go against the rights violator and support you, if only to avoid a lawsuit. – gnasher729 Nov 19 '23 at 23:59
  • @gnasher729 what you're proposing is impossible. The very nature of an employer employee relationship is for the employer to exploit the talents of the employee at the cheapest price possible. Their best interests can never coincide. That's the reason why we have labor laws, to keep the exploitation from getting out of hand. – Xavier J Nov 20 '23 at 15:33
  • @XavierJ sorry you never had a good job, but it's not always like that – Christian Nov 22 '23 at 12:14
  • @XavierJ, you are absolutely wrong. “If you pay peanuts, all you get is monkeys”. The most cost efficient way to improve work is goodies like just free coffees that make employees feel appreciated. Paying a bit more to make them happy is very cost effective. Try Scrooge style exploitation and your business will go down. – gnasher729 Nov 24 '23 at 11:21
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Don't do it.

There is no benefit to you, and only risk. If you are laid off you get a severance package, unemployment benefits, they cannot hire someone else at a lower pay to replace you...

If you resign you get nothing. If you are lucky it sounds like you get 1.5 months more of work.

There is 1 reason, and 1 reason alone why they want you to resign instead of being laid off.. And that is because they are planning on screwing you. Tell the HR person that you would prefer to be laid off instead of resigning.. Also record the conversation (if you live in a location where you only need one person in the room to know that it is being recorded).

Greg Martin
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Questor
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Did they give you a reason why they are not just terminating you instead of you resigning? After all they want you gone, looks like they get an advantage if you quit yourself.

For me this whole thing looks fishy. In some locations you lose benefits like unemployment pay when quiting yourself instead of being let go by the company.

So be careful what you do and maybe consult with an employment lawyer.

I was in a similar situation, I just waited it out and eventually got let go 2 months later. When they want you gone they will fire you anyway and you "only" maybe lose out on a good reference but even that is questionable and is up to you if you want to take that risk.

kirbby
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    In the USA, laying you off may increase the company's contributions to unemployment insurance, while you resigning doesn't. – gnasher729 Nov 20 '23 at 00:00
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While all the answers suggest making them send an email, you could also stall them. You already know they are going to fire you, you already know they are being fishy about it, so there is no benefit in playing nice.

So if someone ask about that email, you could say something like "ah yes, of course I will get to it." and just don't.

Collect some more months of salary while looking for your next job.

Christian
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    +1. Asking for an email is already following the employer’s tempo, and since it’s probable that it’s trying to screw the employee, better not make its life easier. So just wait and ignore ANY non-written communication (be it call, meeting in person, etc.) to force them to do the first (written) move. Until then, enjoy being paid for your work! – breversa Nov 16 '23 at 11:13
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There's very little you lose in waiting for them to put something in writing and a ton you can lose if you act first. I would let them send you an email in writing.

If I were in your position, I would even ask them to send you an email and state the reason you want this is so that the agreement which was made over the phone is placed into writing. They most likely are being sneaky, but by asking you can confirm whether this is true or not.

Nick Friesen
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  • What happens if they are so bold as to send it in writing? If you resign with that evidence would that still hold up that the resignation was not voluntary in court? – DKNguyen Nov 18 '23 at 01:55
  • Your location has legal requirements for how and when a company is allowed to let you go, but if you resign, those requirements aren't the same since you are choosing to leave the company on your own accord. My suggestion would almost never be to resign and just wait until the company lets you go. The point of getting the company to state their request in writing is to affirm you did not intend to resign, but in fact were let go by the company. I would want this in writing for the use case of the company stating I resigned, when I in fact did not. – Nick Friesen Nov 20 '23 at 17:06
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Let’s assume that the company want you to continue working until Dec 10th.

My concern would be that, if you resign you will work until Dec 10th, and then your employment will cease. You will most likely be entitled to cash out any vacation, but that's it.

On the flipside, if the company waits until Dec 10th to lay you off, there may be additional compensation for the layoff in addition to your wages and accrued vacation.

There are obviously variants of this. For example, if you resign, they might pay you until the end of the month, but the whole resign first and then we will give you the details later doesn't seem right. If the company wants to "do right by their employees", why wouldn't they just notify everyone what they plan to do...?

Peter Mortensen
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DavidT
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I would respond to that with an email where I summarize the phone conversation we just had, and then explain that i am not intending to resign, and that if they want me gone they should terminate me in the regular way. And should the termination conditions according to our work contract and applicable labor laws not be desirable for them, then I am open for negotiations regarding a severance agreement.

I would then do my research for what kind of severance agreement I should expect according to my particular situation in my particular jurisdiction. So that when their first offer arrives, I can estimate by how much they are trying to shortchange me, and make an appropriate counter-offer.

And of course go job hunting. Because when a company tried to fire you once, then you shouldn't remain there even if you can somehow cling to your work contract. It's not going to be much fun from then on.

Philipp
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