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I joined a company 3 months ago. Then I got a better offer from another company. I quit the old job without serving notice period and joined the new company.

I sent an email to the old company that I am unable to continue working there. They responded with a warning stating that if I quit the job without serving notice period, they will declare me as an absconded employee, which would be bad for my future background verification.

However, I do not need a relieving letter from the company, as I plan to show some other reason for this gap in employment. Will this have any consequences for me in future?

The old company has deducted my TDS and PF contributions for these 3 months. Can my next employer find out about this job through my PAN, PF, TDS or any other means?

Masked Man
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truesource
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    Folks, please refrain from using the downvote to indicate that you do not approve of the OP's actions. What the OP did here was not professional, I agree, but this is a Q&A site, and the question of "can I hide a job from my employment record" is a good one to have, even if it is not exactly a good thing to do. – Masked Man Aug 19 '17 at 06:51
  • I don't know about India, but here in Canada you CAN be legally fired for lying on your resume. Even if the lie is nothing in itself (for example, claiming to be able to speak French when you actually can't and don't even need to for the job.) If you lied about one thing, how can your current employer trust anything else? I would advise not trying to hide the old job at all - better to admit that you made a mistake in how you handled this and deal with the consequences now, than to get fired and possibly arrested years from now because you were found out. – Steve-O Aug 19 '17 at 13:06
  • True in America also. – Donald Aug 20 '17 at 18:11

2 Answers2

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Can my next employer find out about this job through my PAN, PF, TDS or any other means?

To begin with, unless you are hired as an executive, a company spokesperson, or other "publicly significant" role, I highly doubt the new employer would care about the "hidden" job. However, if they are hell-bent on finding out, they can do it. They would not do it through your old PF or TDS records because of two reasons:

  1. It is tedious, time-consuming and expensive. The only way to legally access these records is by getting a court order, which is hard.
  2. There are other "unofficial" options to do it more easily.

They wouldn't go through a tedious legal process, when there are much easier means available:

  1. They just ask you and you tell them. (duh!?)
  2. They find out about your old employment from your social media profiles.
  3. They "accidentally" come in contact with one of your coworkers at the old company.

It is easy enough for you to avoid 1 and 2. Just don't disclose your old PF and TDS records to them. For the purpose of the new employer's TDS, you will be deemed unemployed for those 3 months, even though you have paid income tax. Deal with that discrepancy while filing tax returns next year. Needless to say, don't use your new employer's tax consultancy service (if they offer one) to file the tax returns.

There can be no perfect strategy to avoid 3, because (for example) the HR or your boss at the new company could have a friend/spouse/sibling/etc. working at the old company, and their conversation could "accidentally" veer into talking about the new guy who joined last month.

Nonetheless, I would recommend you to avoid doing anything that arouses suspicion. Keep a low profile, focus on getting your work done, and do not say or do anything that draws attention to the 3-month gap. If you do your work well for a year or so, the new employer would have no reason to dig into an old gap.

They responded with a warning stating that ... they will declare me as an absconded employee ...

Although it was not professional to leave the job abruptly without notice, the fact remains that you have already done it and joined the new company. Your best option now is to ignore the warnings and move on from the old company. Since you have already made peace with not getting a relieving letter from them, there is nothing for you to gain by continuing the conversation with them.

For future reference, avoid leaving a job without notice. If you must do it, avoid leaving any paper trail (such as the email you sent to your old company). You would never know when it will come back to bite you.

Masked Man
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    Just for what it's worth: the poster has already posted enough information here for me to know his real name. If I can do it, an employer can... – Philip Kendall Aug 19 '17 at 06:57
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    @Philip Kendall Right, that's what I meant by point 2. OP is worried about the employer accessing his employment history from tax records, while he has left that info publicly accessible. It sounds a lot like worrying if your state-of-the-art anti-theft alarm will be hacked, and leaving the front door open! – Masked Man Aug 19 '17 at 07:23
  • Could even say, that being truthful might be a good idea, "i left my old company because you (current company) offered me a job I couldn't refuse", they obviously want(ed) you. Small risk they might be worried you will do the same to them, but that's over the bridge, and is the past today is today. – Donald Aug 20 '17 at 18:15
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But I don't need the relieving letter from the company because I show this gap to some other issue.

There is a very little chance the future companies would find that out if you provided them with some convincing reason. But, be assured that if they do want to find out or want to do a background check, it can be easily found out from your records. So, keep that in mind.

Also, make sure you haven't done anything illegal by terminating your contract, cause the company can file a legal case if you did.

Dawny33
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  • How did they find me if I'm not showing the company in my resume. – truesource Aug 19 '17 at 05:08
  • You have answered that yourself. Your tax records. – Dawny33 Aug 19 '17 at 05:09
  • @Dawny33 The new employer cannot access his tax records unless he voluntarily discloses it. – Masked Man Aug 19 '17 at 05:14
  • @MaskedMan I get that. But, this is India. Most people give out privacy details very easily to employers. I'm just asking him to be extra careful. If they get hold of the Income Tax online account, then the OP would be in big trouble. – Dawny33 Aug 19 '17 at 05:18