First & Foremeost, I had signed 3 years bond upon aggreeing the terms & conditions mentioned in the bond. I had to serve for 3 years or else I have to pay 1 year CTC (6.5 Lakhs) irrespective of any trainings or any other expenses incurred on me if any. But, as mentioned in Offer Letter, company never invested / incurred any expenses on personal training or education though company had asked me to pay the bond value when i had resigned exactly at 1.5 years. I thought it would have been considered on pro-rata basis and 50 % would be payable. But, post resignation in lieu of bond value / in order to recover bond amount company had withheld my 4 months salary without my consent. When asked, they said pay the full amount, they did not pay the salary though i agreed to pay the bond value. finally i have paid full amount and came out of the company with proper relieving documents. But, i have been into lot of mental strees / harassment due to no salary for 4 months. In current situation without 1 month salary surviving is difficult and though repetative requests company did not agree to pay the salary. Now, i have consulted lawyer and as per offer letter, bond & standing orders - lawyer is confidant of recovering the amount. Is it possible to recover the amount now? we have to send legal notice yet. will be awaiting approprite suggestions, if any.
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You have paid the bond amount.
Now can claim the 4 months salary if due with interest but not bond amount.
Sending legal notice is fine and fix the fees with lawyer that he/she can take his fees when the bind amount is recovered by order of court and presently you can pay only case filing charges.
Why not bond amount when they haven’t spend single pai on my training ?? Is that lawful by threatening candidate by not to pay salary and not to give relieving documents. In this way thay have made me to pay bond value.
employment bond stipulating a specified sum as payable by the employee in case of breach of contract is enforceable only if employer has actually spent money on the employee against a promise from the employee that he or she would not leave the employment for the specified duration and has consequently suffered a loss on account of the employee having received the training and leaving the employment before the stipulated period in breach of the employment bond / contract.
you cna take legal proceedings to recover bond amount as company has not spent any money on your training
You should not have repaid the whole amount to them or not paid any single penny. Because in India there is no such law of Bond between employer and employee regarding employment. If there is no cost is invested on training and education on employee.
You can recover and ask whole amount whatsoever you have paid it and your salary too by filinf a suit against company in the Labour Court of your city.
File a suit against your employer for adopting unfair practice in service matter thereby making unreasonable gain at the cost of employees.
Claim payment of full salary due to you and refund of the bond money paid by you subject a reasonable deduction towards incidental expenditure for recruitment . This amount would not run into lakhs .
You may leave this for court to decide .
You reply to a notice if anything send to you through lawyer and contest the proceedings if any filed by employer.
Under the Indian Law, the employment agreements with negative covenants is valid and legally enforceable if the parties agree with their free consent i.e. without fraud, coercion, undue influence, mistake and misrepresentation. .
The Indian courts have held that in the event of a breach of contract by the employee, the employer shall be entitled to recover damages only if a considerable amount of expenditure was borne by the employer.
Indian law mandates the employment bonds to be “reasonable” in order to be valid.
The validity of Employment bonds can be challenged on the basis of Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act. Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 prohibits any agreement in restraint of trade and profession. Any agreement in trade and profession according to Section 27 is void.
As per the mandate of Section 27, any terms and conditions of an agreement which directly or indirectly compels the employee to serve the employer or puts a restriction on them joining the competitor or other employer is not valid under the Indian law, The employee has right to resign from the employment even if he has agreed in the employment bond to serve the employer for a specific period of time.
In view of the above facts and grounds, your advocate may file a recovery suit but it depends on how strongly he presents your case before the concerned court to convince court about the injustice meted out to you by the company.
In fact it was your mistake for having paid the demanded amount to the company.
You may take a decision after thinking over the pros and cons especially the more losses you may suffer due to the proposed litigation
There is no use of yelling over it or repenting on this after having paid the demanded money.
However you may try to recover the money by filing a money recovery suit on the basis of the reasons you rely upon.
File a specific performance suit against them
The terms ofcan agreement may not necessarily be enforceable if its application is found to be too unconscionable or one sided and more so when the other party has no say on its one sided terms except to sign on the dotted line.
So the action of your employer was unlawful to coerce you to pay the Bond money which has no nexus with the service condition.
So I can suggest you to proceed with the legal recourse to recover your money. However the resolution would have been easier had you not paid the money.
1. If the contract makes you liable to pay CTC @ 6.5 lakhs irrespective of any training or other expenses then you are liable to pay this sum if you leave prematurely. There is no escape from it.
2. The employee cannot claim to have any right to have the compensation on a pro-rata basis unless there is anything to the contrary in the contract.
3. I cannot comment on the advice given by someone else.
4. No opinion can be formulated with a sense of conviction unless the contract is perused.
Firstly send legal notice asking for payments of salary thats withhold. Secondly if they refuse file a suit for recovery of money yes it is possible to recover the amount share copy of your bond to get further guidance as to how to proceed with the suit.
You can take the plea that you were forced to pay bond amount
you were not paid your salary and resignation was not being accepted unless bond amount was paid
Dear Sir,
You are suggested to demand the salary and compensation for damages,mental agony and not the bond value because the bond value has been agreed to be returned by you.
Bond amount was not for any training but for retaining in the job at less for lock in period.
Threat is not legal but to recover bond amount, company has acted acc. to their authority and right.
They cannot threaten, serve a legal notice first
- As i mention in earlier reply , that you are legally not bound with the contract signed by you , as the notice period cannot be more than 3 months period legally.
- Since , you have already pay the same , then you are liable to get the due amount of 4 months from the employer.
- You should send a legal demand notice to the company for getting the same.
Consult a lawyer with a copy of the contract.
1. Yes you can recover your pending salary of four months in case you can already cleared bond amount demanded by company.
2. You should go ahead with legal proceedings against your employer for recovery of pending salary.
