I resigned/relieved/laid-off and handed over all assets and documents on the same day. My full and final amount was transferred to my account the next day, and HR promised to send my relieving documents to my home the next day. However, I have not received the documents after two weeks and HR is claiming that some assets are missing under my responsibility. My supervisor had been monitoring all the assets for the past several months and I had asked him if anything was required when I handed them over, to which he had agreed that nothing was pending. The employer has reported this to the local police, and I had a meeting with them and provided the same explanation that I cannot provide any justification for what happened in my absence. What should I do now? I have sent many emails to them, and my new employer is asking for a relieving letter.
You have mentioned that you have already resigned from the company and have received payment of your dues. However, the issue of the relieving letter is still pending. Generally, when an employee resigns, they are asked to go to each department and obtain signatures on the clearance form to confirm that there are no outstanding dues. Did you do this? If so, do you have a photocopy of the form signed by the authorised signatories from each department? You have mentioned that the company has filed a police complaint. Before doing this, did they send you a formal notice asking you to return any items issued to you? If so, what was your response? I suggest that you write a detailed letter to the MD of the former company. Explain your position and provide evidence, if any, that you are not in possession of any company property and that all items were returned prior to your departure. Request that they issue the relieving letter. If they have contacted the police, it is clear that there is a lack of trust. They must have some evidence that you are still holding company property. Without evidence, they would not have taken this step. Please provide your former designation and the number of people who reported to you. When writing your next post, please outline the events in chronological order.
They requested my resignation from the regional manager IT position and I complied, providing them with a copy of the resignation. The HR manager promised to send documents and salary the following day, which I received. However, I did not receive the documents. When I followed up, they asked me about a missing asset. I informed them that I was not responsible for inventory and that the asset was in the absence of me. I suggested that if they had asked for the details before my resignation, I could have provided them. After I sent a reply to the global and local team, they asked for more details about the asset. I reiterated my previous answer. I am now awaiting their response.
Since your F&F settlement has been completed, it is clear that you are not responsible for any outstanding payments. You are only accountable for items that you have personally received and have proof of. Do the authorities have a receipt for the missing items? If not, you can deny the receipt of them before the police. Is it possible that the items were given to your subordinates? If so, do you have any evidence to back this up?
I received the assets personally and handed them over on the same day. My subordinate had been taking care of them for 7-8 months and he also confirmed this with HR and Finance on the same day. I denied the accusation in the meeting with the police and in all the correspondence and asked for proof that I had the missing assets. They asked me about different missing assets after 4-5 days. I did not have any knowledge of the assets that were not present in my absence. Generally, the assets were kept in departments, IT Office, or IT Asset Store. I made the mistake of trusting the HR Manager to get the documents the next day without any suspicion due to our good relationship. I only have proof of my relieving and the full and final amount in my account the next day. The police also asked them to provide evidence but they were unable to do so, so the police did not contact me again for any queries. Today I spoke to one of the responsible HR Persons about what they want from me now as I do not have any assets. So, what are the options now to get the relieving, full and final documents with the remaining variable outstanding from them?
It seems that someone is trying to prevent you from obtaining the necessary documents. Filing a police complaint is a serious issue and it is possible that someone has a personal grudge and is purposely delaying. One way to tackle this is to take the matter to a higher authority and also send a legal notice. Submitting a criminal complaint to a Police Station without sufficient proof can be considered as false prosecution and the complainant may be held liable under Section 182 & 211 IPC and may face civil and criminal repercussions for defamation.