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There have been a few questions about relieving letters here and based on the context of those question the idea of being required to have relieving letter seems quite foreign to many of us that are not from India. So this question is for those of us not from India that may not understand the culture.

  • What is a relieving letter?
  • When do you get a relieving letter?
  • What are they used for?
  • Do you need to keep all of them or just the most recent letter?
  • What are the consequences of not receiving a relieving letter when you leave an employer?
O. Jones
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IDrinkandIKnowThings
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1 Answers1

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What is a relieving letter?

In India there are various restrictions (both in law and as part of employment contracts) which prevent a person to have more than one job at a time (see for example Dual Employment Rules in India and Can you legally work at two different companies in India?). A relieving letter is issued by a company to an employee who has duly resigned from his said post, to be used as proof for future employers.

When do you get a relieving letter?

The relieving letter should be issued the same day you are going to leave the company. If the company does not issue the relieving letter it means that your resignation is not accepted and you are still an employee of that company until the company issues the relieving letter.

What are they used for?

Relieving letter only states formally that you have been relieved to ensure that a new employee has resigned from his previous company and he is not trying to work two jobs at the same time. This prevents people from taking a holiday to try out another company.

It will function as a notification to the employee, that his/her resignation has been accepted and he is relieved from his current duties.

Format of relieving letter

TO WHOM - SO - EVER IT MAY CONCERN

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT MR. ..................... HAS WORKED WITH US
AS................................. FROM .......................

TO .......................... SUBSEQUENT TO HIS RESIGNATION 
DT................... , HE HAS BEEN RELEIVED FROM HIS DUTIES 
W.E.F...............


(AUTHORIZED SIGNATORY)


Thanks

The above is a sample format of relieving letter, it may vary from company to company.

Do you need to keep all of them or just the most recent letter?

Most of companies are interested only in your most recent position, but some CMM level 5 companies require all of your relieving, experience, payslips for verification. Companies like Infosys, TCS, CTS verify all the documents and also verify your educational qualification which includes your schooling and degree.

Background check practices in India vary significantly across different sectors, and even across different companies within the same sector, without defined principles, processes or laws. A comprehensive background check requires a prospective employer to validate a candidate’s educational qualifications, past employment records, work experience, criminal records and identity check, such as passport, driving license or income tax registration number. An effective validation process also may involve contacting past employers, former managers and supervisors.

What are the consequences of not receiving a relieving letter when you leave an employer?

Most organization would at-most do one level of verification which is the latest, most recent relieving letter.

If you don't have the most recent relieving letter, there are greater chances of job application being dropped, regardless if you are a potential candidate or not. The employer has no way to know whether or not you have been relieved from your last assignment and that there are no pending engagements with your last employer.

Weeding out candidates with fudged resumes and preventing fraud requires a vigilant eye and a reliable method for background screening.

Indian companies have started realizing that an effective due diligence process for candidates can help reduce workplace-related problems such as theft, embezzlement, violence, injury and harassment. Such practices can also help mitigate the risks of potential lawsuits as a result of negligent hiring.

sleske
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Thalaivar
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    So am I understanding this correctly that an employer in India can force some one to remain an employee against their will - seems to violate a number of the universal declaration of human rights in particular articles 4 and 23 – Neuromancer Mar 20 '14 at 22:03
  • @Neuromancer: Not really you cannot force someone to stay when they have decided to quit, you can have a read on the background verification done here. http://www.nasscom.in/background-and-purpose – Thalaivar Mar 20 '14 at 22:04
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    so why do you need such a convoluted background check for the average job and its doesn't say how this effects peoples rights under law? – Neuromancer Mar 20 '14 at 22:13
  • @Neuromancer: Population is one factor another is too much of fake candidates who don't have real experiences. In some cases to avoid potential risks like not hiring a terrorist which happened in Yahoo India some yrs back. – Thalaivar Mar 20 '14 at 22:18
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    @NeuroMancer - It seems you can not keep them working for you but you could keep them form working elsewhere in india – IDrinkandIKnowThings Mar 20 '14 at 22:18
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    @Chad: You can go to labor court if they don't give you reliving letter but that rarely happens. – Thalaivar Mar 20 '14 at 22:20
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    If you need the relieving letter from your last employer to apply for a new job, does that mean you have to quit your old job before you can even look for a new one? Normally I would suggest people don't quit their existing job before they have their new one in writing. – nvoigt Mar 21 '14 at 06:56
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    @Vinothbabu - What keeps people from using the relieving letter from the employer before their most recent and just saying they do not have a job since? – IDrinkandIKnowThings Mar 25 '14 at 15:26
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    @nvoigt: You would have an job offer before you even you hit your resignation button, but to join a new company you need relieving letter of the organization which you have quit recently. – Thalaivar Mar 25 '14 at 15:34
  • @Chad: I took a break for 6 months and landed in a new job showing my last job reliving letter. Some companies ask why there is a gap, which you can say either you were searching for jobs or a much needed break to solve out some personal issues which was the case of mine. – Thalaivar Mar 25 '14 at 15:36
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    @Vinothbabu - my question is what prevents you from getting a new job having the relieving letter from the prior job, then getting a second job and just showing them that relieving letter from the prior position. – IDrinkandIKnowThings Mar 25 '14 at 15:51
  • @Chad: Nothing prevents you from getting job without reliving letter, you ought not to say lie that you have experience working in some XYZ company. – Thalaivar Mar 25 '14 at 18:56
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    @Vinothbabu - That is not what I am asking though. Is there any thing that prevents you from just using a relieving letter from a previous employer and not disclosing that you worked for another employer after? – IDrinkandIKnowThings Mar 25 '14 at 18:59
  • @Chad: no, nothing sort of like that. Its up to you to disclose with whom you worked and naturally back up with facts/details for that. – Thalaivar Mar 25 '14 at 19:03
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    @ReallyTiredOfThisGame Usually employers ask for the relieving letter at the time of joining. Most employers are open to the fact that the previous employer may issue the letter 1 or 1.5 months post your last working day with them. – Sudhanshu Mishra Jul 23 '14 at 09:08
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    @Neuromancer - I too suppose that it is violation of Human rights. I have seen instances where employer does not provides relieving letter, due to personal conflict with employee, even when employee has fulfilled his obligation. – Atur Jul 30 '14 at 07:17
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    Is people having multiple jobs a big enough problem in India that it needs to be legislated against? – Burhan Ali Dec 06 '14 at 02:06
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    "The employer has no way to know whether or not you have been relieved from your last assignment and that there are no pending engagements with your last employer." Why can't they just call the previous company? That's the way it works in the US, and seems to be much easier than this complicated relieving letter system. – tcrosley Dec 22 '14 at 23:19
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    @tcrosley Suppose company A calls previous company B to ask if employee E has been relieved. Company B gives a response, but if trouble ensues later, they could deny that a call happened or claim that the person who replied doesn't have enough authority, etc. A written relieving letter is, in principle, meant to protect the employee against such shady business practices. Unfortunately, employers often use it to harass the employees instead. – Masked Man Jan 04 '15 at 16:45
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    @Thalaivar then, what's the point? If you can just use a previous letter, this whole system is completely bogus and makes no sense… – o0'. Apr 22 '15 at 08:39
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    @MaskedMan why is there any possibility of shady business in the first place? Ive had 4 jobs in a 20 year career, and not once has any issue arisen from a previous employer after I have left them - why does this seem to be an issue in India and not in my country? I hand my resignation in, I work my notice, I leave and thats it. Theres some tax stuff to work out, but nothing I need to give to a new employer to say I am no longer employed by my old employer. –  May 13 '15 at 21:13
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    @Moo Well, that's good for you. You live in a more developed country, that is all. India is not there yet, but we will get there, and then there won't be any such problems. – Masked Man May 14 '15 at 15:00
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    @Moo: In the UK, when you leave your job, your previous employer will give you a paper called "P45" for tax reasons, which states how much money you earned, how much income tax they paid on your behalf, and it states that they are not paying you anymore. You show this to your new employer so they know how much income tax they have to pay on your behalf. If you don't show that paper they have to assume that you have another job and pay income tax on your behalf at the maximum rate. It's perfectly legal to not show them the P45; you will just pay much too much tax through the year – gnasher729 Mar 04 '16 at 01:13
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    ... which you will get back in your tax return. Having two jobs is perfectly legal and happens quite often with people having two 20 hour jobs. For full time jobs it is often part of your employment contract that you cannot have other jobs, but usually nobody checks this. Unless your boss thinks that you are always tired when you arrive at work, they might want to find out why that is. – gnasher729 Mar 04 '16 at 01:16
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    @gnasher729 as you say, the P45 is not a requirement to start a job - and tax issues will be sorted shortly after your new companies payroll contacts the HMRC to double check your tax code, so you probably wont pay any more tax than required anyway. I still think the concept of a relieving letter is ridiculous however. –  Mar 04 '16 at 08:15
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    @MaskedMan, why does a "less developed country" have such a highly developed bureaucracy that you are legally forbidden from working two jobs? – Wildcard Sep 07 '16 at 01:25
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    @Wildcard Because lobbying. The labour law was written about half a century ago when India was mostly an agrarian economy. The Government felt the need to encourage industrial development, but companies were reluctant to setup shops with no guarantee of labour. So a rule was made that a "labourer" could not work at multiple "factories" at the same time to offset that concern to some extent. Keep in mind that these labour laws were written for a time where labour meant physical labour, not the freelance contracting kind of work of the present time. – Masked Man Sep 07 '16 at 01:32
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    By the way, you shouldn't criticize a solution until you understand the problem it was trying to solve. That said though, some of the Labour laws in India are quite outdated and are no longer relevant to all the varied professions that Indians can follow now. Sadly there doesn't seem to be much will or intent from the Government to change it. – Masked Man Sep 07 '16 at 01:34
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    @MaskedMan, Thanks very much for the background. I will say that when a "solution" is itself a problem, I will not refrain from criticizing it. It's certainly worthwhile to found out How Come there is such a problem, though. Anyway, that was aside from the real point of my last comment, which is that complication of labor laws does not stem from the "undeveloped" state of a country. Actually the converse is true: Arbitrary regulation of the workforce can prevent the development of a country. – Wildcard Sep 07 '16 at 01:41
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    @Wildcard I understand what you said and I totally agree. Unfortunately, the people who were in power when those laws were made had different ideas. One has to consider that the Indian Government post-Independence adopted a so-called "socialist" policy in all its dealings. In the first 4 decades or so, India was closer to USSR than to the Western countries (although officially it was "Non Aligned"), so that had a significant influence on India's policies. – Masked Man Sep 07 '16 at 04:16
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    It was only after the collapse of USSR and the adoption of a more "liberal" financial policy in 1991 that India started moving towards a more capitalist financial system. However, decades long policies will not change overnight. My point here is Government policymaking is not as a simple as "this will develop the country faster", it is way too complex taking into account various political, cultural, historical issues. In such cases, the "solution" is certainly a problem, but other alternatives could create problems elsewhere. Things are not so easy to fix, but we keep trying to get better. :) – Masked Man Sep 07 '16 at 04:19
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    If it is illegal for people to work two jobs at the same time, then it must also be illegal for an employer to not provide a 'relieving letter' when someone leaves their employment. Anything short of that is quite simply oppression. – Time4Tea Jul 18 '18 at 13:10
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    I wonder if a lack of a relieving letter could be grounds for a suit for back (unpaid) wages? – jmoreno Nov 29 '20 at 02:58
  • @Thalaivar What if a company deny a relieving letter, and makes the life of employees miserable ? – Asish Mar 17 '22 at 05:10
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    "In India it is illegal for a person to have more than one job at a time" - I think that is wrong. I'm no lawyer, but a quick web search finds multiple articles contradicting this - e.g. Dual Employment Rules in India and Can you legally work at two different companies in India?. There are laws restricting dual employment in some cases, but no general ban. I submitted an edit to correct this. – sleske May 18 '22 at 10:08