Hi,
I have received confirmed offer letter from my future employer and based on that I have resigned from my current organisation.
But now I have received call from my future employer HR (no formal communication) that they have received negative feedback from my previous organisation on my candidature in Back Ground Verification process.
I have confirmed with my previous organisation HR then I got to know that they did not receive such kind of any communication/call from my future employer on my candidature.
Now my future employer is not ready to process my candidature and previous employer says they did not receive any communication from my future employer.
I am kind of stuck here.Please help me what should I do now.
From India, Mumbai
I have received confirmed offer letter from my future employer and based on that I have resigned from my current organisation.
But now I have received call from my future employer HR (no formal communication) that they have received negative feedback from my previous organisation on my candidature in Back Ground Verification process.
I have confirmed with my previous organisation HR then I got to know that they did not receive such kind of any communication/call from my future employer on my candidature.
Now my future employer is not ready to process my candidature and previous employer says they did not receive any communication from my future employer.
I am kind of stuck here.Please help me what should I do now.
From India, Mumbai
Dear Mohit,
The company that offered you the job should have been thoughtful before issuing you the Offer Letter. Why they did "Background Verification" after the issue of offer letter? Is it mentioned in the Offer Letter that your absorption is subject of the positive background verification?
Offer letter is a starting point between employer-employer relationship. Issue of Appointment letter after taking you on the company's roll's would have cemented this relationship. However, the company has mid-way withdrawn and this relationship was not established at all. Therefore, the company's action has inflicted losses on you.
You may approach some lawyers who handles cases under Indian Contract Act (ICA), 1872. I am neither lawyer nor LLB. However, as I conduct training on Contract Management, I have studied ICA, 1872.
Let me bring to your attention case of Vikas Electrical Service, Hubli V Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB), AIR 2008 Kar 88 In the said case, KEB (defendant) issued three work orders and later withdrew unilaterally without giving any reasons. Vikas Electrical (plaintiff) challenged the withdrawal and claimed damage charges. Though Vikas Electrical could not prove any loss on account of the withdrawal of the three work orders, yet court ruled in plaintiff's favour because court felt it is important to take into account "presumed damage".
Now in your case, you have resigned from your current job. This was on the strength of the "Offer Letter". Therefore, what you have suffered or suffering is not "presumed damage" but "actual damage". Court has very well defined "Sufference of damage or loss" in the following case:
Kamil & Bros v Central Daily Farm and Anr, AIR 2008 All.33
Check with your lawyer how far this case/verdict is helpful to you. Send a lawyer's notice to your further employer. Either they can absorb you or should pay the monthly salary what your current employer was paying till you get the next job.
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
Management & Behavioural Training Consultant
Bangalore - 560094
Limit of your words is limit of your world
From India, Bangalore
7879The company that offered you the job should have been thoughtful before issuing you the Offer Letter. Why they did "Background Verification" after the issue of offer letter? Is it mentioned in the Offer Letter that your absorption is subject of the positive background verification?
Offer letter is a starting point between employer-employer relationship. Issue of Appointment letter after taking you on the company's roll's would have cemented this relationship. However, the company has mid-way withdrawn and this relationship was not established at all. Therefore, the company's action has inflicted losses on you.
You may approach some lawyers who handles cases under Indian Contract Act (ICA), 1872. I am neither lawyer nor LLB. However, as I conduct training on Contract Management, I have studied ICA, 1872.
Let me bring to your attention case of Vikas Electrical Service, Hubli V Karnataka Electricity Board (KEB), AIR 2008 Kar 88 In the said case, KEB (defendant) issued three work orders and later withdrew unilaterally without giving any reasons. Vikas Electrical (plaintiff) challenged the withdrawal and claimed damage charges. Though Vikas Electrical could not prove any loss on account of the withdrawal of the three work orders, yet court ruled in plaintiff's favour because court felt it is important to take into account "presumed damage".
Now in your case, you have resigned from your current job. This was on the strength of the "Offer Letter". Therefore, what you have suffered or suffering is not "presumed damage" but "actual damage". Court has very well defined "Sufference of damage or loss" in the following case:
Kamil & Bros v Central Daily Farm and Anr, AIR 2008 All.33
Check with your lawyer how far this case/verdict is helpful to you. Send a lawyer's notice to your further employer. Either they can absorb you or should pay the monthly salary what your current employer was paying till you get the next job.
All the best!
Dinesh V Divekar
Management & Behavioural Training Consultant
Bangalore - 560094
Limit of your words is limit of your world
From India, Bangalore
I would disagree with Dinesh
The company is free to withdraw the offer letter if they get any negative feedback from the previous employer or any other background verification they do. It is an established practice not to do BGV before the employee has accepted the offer letter, first because it is not decided whether they will make an offer (and therefore why to spend money) and secondly because it would alert the employer of the intention of the employee to leave, which will create further problems for him.
In most cases, the BGV would have been done when the employee joins, and then you would have been terminated immediately with out compensation (mostly during probation there is no notice period anyway). So your position would not be much different.
If you were to pursue this matter in the court, all the employer would be required to show is that they have sufficient cause. The report from the BGV company would be enough. Or even the contention of HR that they spoke to the previous employers and got xyz feedback.
In the best case scenario, if they would take you following a court order, they would be free to terminate you with notice pay with immediate pay. So where does this leave you ?
You can go and personally meet the HR department of the new company and speak to them to find out the actual problem and perhaps convince them that you are a good hire. You should also speak to your existing employer to see if they will rehire you
From India, Mumbai
The company is free to withdraw the offer letter if they get any negative feedback from the previous employer or any other background verification they do. It is an established practice not to do BGV before the employee has accepted the offer letter, first because it is not decided whether they will make an offer (and therefore why to spend money) and secondly because it would alert the employer of the intention of the employee to leave, which will create further problems for him.
In most cases, the BGV would have been done when the employee joins, and then you would have been terminated immediately with out compensation (mostly during probation there is no notice period anyway). So your position would not be much different.
If you were to pursue this matter in the court, all the employer would be required to show is that they have sufficient cause. The report from the BGV company would be enough. Or even the contention of HR that they spoke to the previous employers and got xyz feedback.
In the best case scenario, if they would take you following a court order, they would be free to terminate you with notice pay with immediate pay. So where does this leave you ?
You can go and personally meet the HR department of the new company and speak to them to find out the actual problem and perhaps convince them that you are a good hire. You should also speak to your existing employer to see if they will rehire you
From India, Mumbai
I agree with Mr.Banerjee. First of all as seniors let us not issue a long advice letter and confuse the person. He cannot go to the court and fight the case. Please do not misled the persons like this. Let us not act as if we know everything and misguide the person.
Please contact the HR of the future company and ascertain the fact whether they referred for Background verification and if so and by getting the bad report from them about you there is absolutely no chance of getting the employment. If they accept that they have not referred then you can ask them to consider the appointment stating that you have given he notice to the company to relive you based on the offer letter issue by them.
From India, Madras
Please contact the HR of the future company and ascertain the fact whether they referred for Background verification and if so and by getting the bad report from them about you there is absolutely no chance of getting the employment. If they accept that they have not referred then you can ask them to consider the appointment stating that you have given he notice to the company to relive you based on the offer letter issue by them.
From India, Madras
Dear Saswata,
Nothing wrong as such if you disagree with me. However, some time, some candidate has to take up the cudgels against the employers of this kind. As such employers have every right to fire anyone. Numerous posts on this very forum will give testimony to what I say. Now a new trend will set where they will start firing even before hiring.
Nevertheless, it goes without saying that litigation should be last resort and one should explore all the option before litigation. Judicial settlement cannot be used at the drop of a hat.
For Launchpad: - I have not misguided Mohit by any chance. All that I have said is to approach some lawyer and find out whether notice can be issued under the provisions of ICA, 1872. Lawyer is there to guide him. Secondly, to make Mohit's job easy, I have referred two cases. Now whether to use these cases or not or their applicability itself is at lawyer's discretion. It appears that you have not read the complete judgements of both the cases or at least of Kamil & Bros v Central Daily Farm and Anr, AIR 2008 All.33. Court has defined "damages" very well in this case.
Let me remind you that employers made large number of bonds that favoured only them. These bonds relate to taking up employment after the exit from current job etc. However, some person showed courage and went to the court and courts have ruled against the employers. Imagine what would have happened if the aggrieved employees had not knocked the doors of the court. Court rulings would not have come up. Rights do not fall in one's lap. You have to fight for them.
Lastly, the most surprising statement of your post is "He cannot go to the court and fight the case.". Probably the statement is derived from the self-made axiom that employers should always enjoy whip hand and employees should be subservient to their antics. Employers like Vijay Mallaya take benefit of abject submissive attitude of their employees and muster courage of not paying salaries and yet continue with their swashbuckling . Can you think of such things happening in countries like USA?
Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Nothing wrong as such if you disagree with me. However, some time, some candidate has to take up the cudgels against the employers of this kind. As such employers have every right to fire anyone. Numerous posts on this very forum will give testimony to what I say. Now a new trend will set where they will start firing even before hiring.
Nevertheless, it goes without saying that litigation should be last resort and one should explore all the option before litigation. Judicial settlement cannot be used at the drop of a hat.
For Launchpad: - I have not misguided Mohit by any chance. All that I have said is to approach some lawyer and find out whether notice can be issued under the provisions of ICA, 1872. Lawyer is there to guide him. Secondly, to make Mohit's job easy, I have referred two cases. Now whether to use these cases or not or their applicability itself is at lawyer's discretion. It appears that you have not read the complete judgements of both the cases or at least of Kamil & Bros v Central Daily Farm and Anr, AIR 2008 All.33. Court has defined "damages" very well in this case.
Let me remind you that employers made large number of bonds that favoured only them. These bonds relate to taking up employment after the exit from current job etc. However, some person showed courage and went to the court and courts have ruled against the employers. Imagine what would have happened if the aggrieved employees had not knocked the doors of the court. Court rulings would not have come up. Rights do not fall in one's lap. You have to fight for them.
Lastly, the most surprising statement of your post is "He cannot go to the court and fight the case.". Probably the statement is derived from the self-made axiom that employers should always enjoy whip hand and employees should be subservient to their antics. Employers like Vijay Mallaya take benefit of abject submissive attitude of their employees and muster courage of not paying salaries and yet continue with their swashbuckling . Can you think of such things happening in countries like USA?
Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
I have not read the 2 cases you have give - I am not in a place with access to high speed internet.....
Do these cases refer to withdrawal of offer letter in case of negative BVG ? if not, is there any case regarding compensation for withdrawal of offer letter ?
The position has been discussed on the forum many times about admissibility of bonds pertaining to restraint of employment or Non-Compete after resignation. (That only applies in case of sale of business by the concerned person). This does not apply here where the offer letter has been withdrawn because of negative response to a BGV.
We cant ofcourse be definitive here as we do not have all facts of the case, most importantly what exactly the prospective employer found. It is entirely possible current employer gave negative feedback but refused to acknowledge the same to the employee. However, I would like to discuss more on the legal aspect and tenability of such a legal action against the prospective employer as it is an important enhancement to my knowledge. If you feel necessary, lets move that part of the discussion to a new thread and get all our senior members to give response on it.
Coming back to the original post, it is also important to know the cost of a litigation against the employer, who will pay for it till the case is decided and how the employee will fund it. Will some lawyer fight it pro-bono ? or with success fee based working ? or will a union or NGO take it up for free ? If not, how will the employee pay for it ?? How will such a case affect the employee's future employment ? Will future employer allow him leave to attend court cases ? Will he even keep someone who is fighting the previous employer in court ?
In view of the possible answers to the above, I would say LaunchPad's statement seems correct.
I will, however, leave it to the judgement of the person who posted the querry to take a call based (now) on the differing views and your explanation of the same.......
From India, Mumbai
Do these cases refer to withdrawal of offer letter in case of negative BVG ? if not, is there any case regarding compensation for withdrawal of offer letter ?
The position has been discussed on the forum many times about admissibility of bonds pertaining to restraint of employment or Non-Compete after resignation. (That only applies in case of sale of business by the concerned person). This does not apply here where the offer letter has been withdrawn because of negative response to a BGV.
We cant ofcourse be definitive here as we do not have all facts of the case, most importantly what exactly the prospective employer found. It is entirely possible current employer gave negative feedback but refused to acknowledge the same to the employee. However, I would like to discuss more on the legal aspect and tenability of such a legal action against the prospective employer as it is an important enhancement to my knowledge. If you feel necessary, lets move that part of the discussion to a new thread and get all our senior members to give response on it.
Coming back to the original post, it is also important to know the cost of a litigation against the employer, who will pay for it till the case is decided and how the employee will fund it. Will some lawyer fight it pro-bono ? or with success fee based working ? or will a union or NGO take it up for free ? If not, how will the employee pay for it ?? How will such a case affect the employee's future employment ? Will future employer allow him leave to attend court cases ? Will he even keep someone who is fighting the previous employer in court ?
In view of the possible answers to the above, I would say LaunchPad's statement seems correct.
I will, however, leave it to the judgement of the person who posted the querry to take a call based (now) on the differing views and your explanation of the same.......
From India, Mumbai
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Background Verification Form.doc