Forced resignation and deduction of approved leaves during full & final settlement

Question

► I was working in a private company where I was asked to resign immediately under the name of a layoff and was given same-day relieving. I was verbally assured one month’s salary. During my last working month, I had taken medical leaves which were properly informed and approved by my manager/HR. The salary for those days was already credited in my account through the regular payroll. However, at the time of full and final settlement, the company is now stating that those leaves will be adjusted against my earned leave (EL) balance and they are planning to deduct the salary amount accordingly. When I questioned HR, they said that since I am no longer in the company, they are applying leave policy differently and only limited leaves are allowed per month. They also stated that asking me to resign under layoff is legal. I want to understand: Is it legal to force resignation in the name of layoff? Can the company change already approved and paid leaves and deduct salary later? What legal action can I take to recover my dues?

Answer 1

Dear Client,

Whereas, if you were made to resign voluntarily rather than being laid off, then whether the process was legal or not would depend on several factors; but it must be noted that an employer cannot force an employee to resign voluntarily, and a voluntary resignation that is made under duress can easily be contested. Concerning your leave of absence, if the medical leave had been properly availed and the salary duly paid by means of payroll, then there must be sufficient grounds for the employer to subsequently treat this leave as something else and deduct payments. In this regard, whether it would be legal or not for your employer to make these deductions would depend entirely on the company’s leave policy, your employment conditions, and the type of leave which had been sanctioned. Therefore, I would suggest you request for copies of the notice of resignation, leave sanction notices, salary slips, full and final settlement slip, and relevant HR policies, and lodge a complaint for further clarification regarding these deductions.

I hope this helps and if you have any further issues do not hesitate to contact us.

Forced resignation and deduction of approved leaves during full & final settlement

1 Answer