Questions & Answers
Claiming unpaid salaries and entitlements for arbitrary termination
Labor Case
I have not been paid 4+ months in salaries of 40,500. I have served in the company 5.8+ years to date. I am due to pending salaries, leave salaries for 51 days, gratuity and a personal balance of 54,000.
My present company has been sold to another company and I have been requested to continue my job at a lower salary and demoted from my current position of General Manager which are terms of arbitrary termination.
I have refused to sign stating I will not do so until my pending salaries and dues are settled. They have not terminated me nor have I resigned from my current position as I believe they are not legally authorized too.
They have not transferred the TL to their names yet. However, they are sitting in our office and making transactions on behalf of the company and operating the bank accounts.
The previous owner is unreachable both by email and phone.
As per the above, what are my options to claim?
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Thank you for reaching out to me on this.
I understand that you have not been paid for more than four months and have an existing labour contract with the current company.
There is some new company which intends to take over the existing company where you work. Can you confirm if only the management will change or the whole company setup (name, trade license...etc) will be changed?
I would advise you to immediately open a labour case against the company for your pending dues i.e. more than 4 months salary, leave salary, gratuity, personal balance (please explain what is the nature of this personal balance) along with three months' salary as compensation towards arbitrary dismissal.
The reason for arbitrary dismissal is that if an employee is not paid for two months then he is deemed to be terminated. In this case, it is not mandatory for you to give a resignation or be terminated by the company.
Do not sign on any alternate job terms as they are not legally entitled to do so.
Further, note that your rights will be barred after the expiry of one year and you have already exhausted four months in this, hence, I urge you to act swiftly and move against the company.
I trust you will find the above satisfactory.
Feel free to get in touch with me on 052-9495731 or email me for further assistance and clarification.
Regards,
Hari Wadhwana
