Civil Law Videos - Consequences of not serving notice period

Notice Period is a tool for the benefit of the employer. It serves multi-faceted purposes, firstly it informs the employer of the will of such an employee of his desire to quit and while the notice period is being served, it gives the employer an opportunity to look for suitable replacements in the stead of the out-going employee. So Notice period basically is an intimation of the will of the employee to quit and thereby giving the employer enough time to look for suitable replacements.

If the Employment Contract specifically lays down the existence of a notice period in an organisation, then the same would have to be served before getting relieved from the duties. In such a case if the employee decides not to serve the notice period then either he can buyout his notice period that is a form of compensation to the company for the employee not being able to serve them for the mandatory time frame that he was supposed to or either if the company can show that they had incurred expenses for the hiring of such an employee and his rash action was that he decided to quit without serving the notice period then they can claim compensation in addition to the buyout from such an employee.

It is also not always necessary that an employee will be at the receiving end if he has quit before serving the notice period, he might not face any hassles for the same, in order be eligible for monetary compensation from the employee, the company must be able to show that they had incurred losses because of the acts of such an outgoing employee, and also the employment contract stating something to establish that end. It is the employment contract from which all the rights and duties of the term of employment emanate from and it is essential to abide by the terms of such a contract. Also it is always advisable to serve the notice period and then get relieved because it is only after that an outgoing employee is eligible for the full and final compensation, relieving letter and the experience letter, so in order to avail all of those benefits one should serve the stipulated notice period, in absence of which an employer can hold onto such benefits and in addition hold the employee liable for monetary compensation.