Employers CANNOT Retain Original Certificates Of Employees

Employers, so as to prevent employees from quitting without prior notice, sometimes retain original certificates/documents of the employees and make similar mandatory clauses in appointment agreements. The certificates are not handed over to the employees for long, even after completion of their notice period.

First of all, employers have no right to retain original certificates even as security against notice or notice pay. If an employer refuses to return original certificates, the employee has the option to file a Police complaint against the employer.

Aside from filing a Police complaint, approaching the Government Labour Office or sending a legal notice to the employer are other options that may be explored. However, based on past events and the change in trends, it has been seen that the best option is to approach the local  trade union. Sometimes, even a phone call from them can work miracles. However, there is a flip side to this, the employee may be given a negative comment in his/her post-employment reference by the employer, which may hamper future employment prospects of the employee. Therefore, at the very beginning an employee must try to resolve the issue through dialogue and the aforesaid actions should be initiated as the very last resort. Such actions are known to have delivered results in a few IT companies in Pune.