Can We Legally Shorten an Employee's Notice Period Due to Excess Leave? Seeking Advice!

I have an employee who resigned on the 28th of February 2012. She has taken 13 days of excess leave for the current calendar year (during her marriage). This will be deducted from her final salary. Now, she wants to serve a notice period of one month, but her manager says that we should deduct her 13 days' salary (for unpaid leave) and also reduce her notice period by these 13 days. I am afraid we cannot do this. If she is willing to serve the notice period for the remaining 17 days, we cannot stop her from doing so, or else we will need to pay her for those 17 days.

Can the company force her to resign with immediate effect, and neither the company nor the employee pays for the remaining days? To my mind, we cannot do that. If she agrees to be relieved immediately herself, then it is fine; otherwise, we would need to pay her.

According to me, you can do the following:

1. You can tell her to serve the notice period, but 13 days of excess leave will be deducted from her full and final settlement.

2. You can tell her to resign and relieve her from her duties with immediate effect by paying her the settlement and deducting the money for the excess leave of 13 days.

3. Since you are the HR of the company, you have to guide the Reporting Manager on the company's policy during the notice period. It is you who has to make the decision on the settlement of dues for an employee serving their notice period, not the Reporting Manager.

If the company asks her to resign with immediate effect but does not pay her dues, she can file a case against the company. To avoid such complications, I suggest you choose one of the options mentioned above.

Hope this clears your doubts.

Kind regards,
[Your Name]

Immediate Relief Consideration

Mr. Chaturvedi, just a thought: can we also ask her to be relieved with immediate effect? We do not ask her to pay for the 13 days of excess leave taken, and we do not pay her for the rest of her notice period.

Regards,
Jyoti

If you ask her to be relieved with immediate effect, you have to pay one month's salary and make a full and final settlement.

You need to carefully read the company policy on this matter and interpret it appropriately. An employee is obliged to serve the notice period; however, the company management, at its discretion, can decide to relieve the employee by taking a shorter or zero notice period. They are not obliged to pay for extra days. Full and Final settlement is paid up to the last working day of the employee.

Objective of Serving the Notice Period

Kindly note that the objective of serving the notice period is to ensure that you hand over your tasks to another person or the department head of the company and to give the company time to find a new replacement for you. If the company does not intend to find your replacement and if you are not senior enough or your tasks do not require 30 days to hand over, in that case, the company can relieve you with a shorter notice or without any notice. In this case, the company will pay you until your last working day. From the Full and Final Settlement, you will deduct all the extra money that has been paid to the employee.

I hope this clears your doubt.

Regards

The leave excess availed with pay has to be deducted in full and final settlement. Regarding the notice period for resignation, he has to give one month's notice or he has to pay one month's salary in lieu of notice and request the management to accept his resignation and relieve him from duty.

Regards,
D. Gurumurthy
HR/IR Consultant

I agree with this view. The management is empowered to decide on the imposition of the notice period, whether a full month or a lesser period. However, an employee is duty-bound to serve the notice period. Regarding excess leave utilized, normally recovery will be made from the final settlement.

Regards,
kumar.s.