Non Disclosure Agreement and notice periods
I have received “offer letter” and post accepting the offer, I received “appointment letter” with date of joining, “applicant form”, “NDA” and request to attach relevant documents.
Below are the contents of clause 5 & 6 which are questionable and I feel these as unreliable to extent of forcing labour and mala-fide intent in deceiving employee. These clause comes after defining "disclosing party" and "receiving party" and after the heading - "It is hereby mutually agreed to by and between the parties as under:"
1. 2. 3. 4.
“5. That the receiving party agrees to work with the disclosing party for at least 1 year and shall not leave the service of disclosing party during this period, except in the case of continued ill-health, in which case she/ he can leave the company by giving three months notice period or payment in lieu thereof.”
“6. That the receiving party agrees, in case she leaves the company during the term of agreement, she undertakes to refund 50% of the gross emoluments paid to her during the period she remained in the service of the company, in addition to any other damages and/ or losses suffered by the disclosing party. The amount of refund shall be determined by the disclosing party and shall not be open to any question by the receiving party.”
Can you please help me with these clause to understand more.
Do these clause make me to server 1 year bonded engagement?
Does this mean only in condition of ill health I can leave org before 1 year.
Does this mean even after working in organization for more than a year i will have to refund the gross emoluments for rendered service. That is half of my earned salary ?
As it is not clearly mentioned the condition for which clause 5 and 6 are applicable that - "in case employee leaves organization without serving notice below condition will be applicable - " the clause 5 and 6 in NDA do not implicitly imply these clause to be applicable in case of employee leaving organization without serving notice ?
I spoke to HR on clarification and she mentioned these clause are applicable if employee leaves organization without serving notice. With this I asked her if she can update NDA this condition as this condition is not mentioned at all. She denied updating NDA but has provided me email reply with clarification.
HR had confirmed that she can be trusted. Should I ?
HR replies:
"Clause 5 and 6 are applicable when you fail to server notice period. If you server notice, then no deduction will be applicable."
"50% is deducted only when a person fails to server the notice period. The amount will be deducted based on the remaining days to be server. The employee can leave organization anytime by serving 3 months notice period."
Can trust this email reply and wording of email.
Please need your help in this regard.
Regards,
Roopali