Theme: Employment Contracts

If you have accepted the job offer before you have signed an appointment letter or employment contract, you can withdraw your acceptance. This applies to the employer as well. The employer may revoke the job offer after you’ve accepted it but before you’ve signed any paperwork.

If you accepted a job offer verbally or through writing and you and the employer did not intend to enter into any further formal contract, then the acceptance can be considered as final. Due to this finality, the employer may take action against you for withdrawing from a final contract.

However, if you did intend to enter into a contract after a verbal/written acceptance of a job offer, the employer may not take any action towards you, for rejecting the job offer at this stage.

If you violate the confidentiality/non-disclosure clause in your employment contract, your employer may file a civil or a criminal case against you.

Your employer may file a civil case if they want to stop you from sharing any information or if they want to get monetary compensation from you for violating the terms of the contract.

Your employer can also file a criminal case against you for violating the confidentiality clause and you may be charged with:

• Theft (ex. documents)
• Hacking
• Causing damage to a computer system
• Tampering with computer source document
• Violating the privacy policy of the company

However, it is important to note that using your own knowledge, skill, and experience at your new job, even if it was acquired during the course of employment at your previous company will not be considered confidential information or trade secrets.

While discussing the terms given to you in the offer letter by your employer or before signing the contract, it is important to negotiate if you are unhappy with the terms. Keep in mind the following:

• Understand and state the value you bring to the organization
• Be aware of the technical terms (legal and non-legal) in the contract
• Make your contract is personalized
• Make sure you are not restricted from gaining employment in any other place once you resign
• If anything sounds unfair or unreasonable, talk to your employer
• Changing the terms of your contract is hard after signing it.

No, your PF account stays the same, even if you change jobs. At the time of your first job where your PF account has been opened, you are allotted a Universal Account Number (UAN) which stays the same throughout your career.

HR policy or Human Resource policies are an organization’s guidelines  to manage its employees. It provides guidance to employees and employers on how the organization functions and provides for strict rules on things you can and cannot do in the organization. For example, the HR policy will specify the manner in which you have to inform your employer that you are taking leave. Many employment contracts refer to the HR policy and not following the HR policy may lead to disputes with your employer, which in turn may result in termination.

If you decide to quit your job, inform your employer in the manner provided in your employment contract. You may either have to give a notice period or comply with any other formality as given in your employment contract.

A joining bonus is an amount of money paid to a new employee as an incentive to join that company. A joining bonus may be offered in these situations:

• When your new employer wants you to join as soon as possible, they may offer you a joining bonus to quit your old office and forgo the notice period.
• When a company, especially a start-up, wants to persuade you to join.

EPF and PPF are both long-term saving schemes offered by the government. The difference between the two is that EPF scheme is mandatory for employees working in an organisation of more than 20 people and PPF is an optional scheme available to eligible citizens.

The job offer should express the willingness by the employer to enter into a legally binding contract with you. It should not be a passing statement made by your employer, but has to be a definitive statement offering you the job. For example, if your employer says ‘I think I can hire you’, this is not indicating his willingness to hire you and this would not be a job offer.

Yes, your employer can ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, in situations after you leave the office. This is done to maintain the confidentiality of the work done by the employer. Indian Courts have ruled that the only post-termination restrictions that can be allowed are non-disclosure terms and non-solicitation terms.