| Hi! I have resigned from an IT company after working more than seven and half years and serving required notice period of 60 days. Now, after more than a month of cessation of my association, company HR asks me to sign a "Invention Assignment / Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA). My appointment later did not contain a condition for signing of agreements and such change in policy was never intimated to me or other employees during my tenure as employee. Company has neither given me relieving letter nor paid my dues viz., salry for one and half month, annual components like medical benefits, performance incentive, LTA and also gratuity. Further most of my contemporaries have not signed such agreement. The agreement contains strong clauses like: One cannot take up employment with a customer, business partner, competitor and potential competitor for a period of one year; agree to compensate damages in cash, etc. Please advise on: a) legality of company asking me to sign such a bond now after leaving the job b) validity of clauses in NDA c) ways to secure relieving letter and payment of dues. Thanks. dear asking to sign such type of letters is ofcourse illegal but i will say it is a useless exercise.employer is waisting time without any benefit.this type of agreement does not have any legal say.you sign it or donot sign it does not have any value.main thing your releiving letter and wages,you ask them and if they donot pay it court is only solution. tks j s malik Dear all, 1. Normally, Notice Period / Notice Pay under Resignation will be regulated in terms of the Appointment Order. No employer can burden the employee with additional conditions other than the terms of initial appointment and the terms of Standing Orders of the Company if the Appointment Order bears reference in the Order itself. 2. However, in case the employee has been promoted subsequently and the Order of Promotion to Management Cadre, stipulates therein "Invention Assignment / Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with concomitant benefits and privileges, the same will hold good. 3. Notwithstanding the above, a mere reading of the letter from Kirti, does not indicate either a promotion subsequent to initial appointment nor issue "Invention Assignment / Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) letter while in service. If this is true, the action of the erstwhile employer is perverse and patently illegal. 4. Kirti is entitled not only for the Gratuity, but also performance incentives, leave salary and medical benefits, if it was a annual lump sum payment. As for LTA, there may not be a rightful claim. Mr. Kirti is entitled for legal action including damages if the erstwhile employer is not settling the legal dues within a time frame. A.Irudayam, M.A., M.B.A., LL.B. Advocate and HR Consultant +919940686632
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