whiteKnight
New Member
Hi,
My former employer reduced my salary and designation in the last month of my employment without formally signing an agreement with me. I worked for this company from 16 August 2005 to 17 April 2009. The salary for the month of March 2009 was reduced up to 40% without taking a formal acceptance from me. Also the designation has been reduced.
How I came to know?
I was not given the salary slip for March 2009. Since the amount deposited in my bank account was higher than usual I did not suspect of any wrong doing.
I resigned from the company in April 2009 and joined another company in May 2009. I got this new job based on the salary and designation in my former employment for the past year full. As part of the routine my current employer did a background check and later quizzed me that the salary and designation I had communicated to him did not match with the information given by my previous employer. I wrote to my former employer asking for clarification and he replied by quoting the reduced salary and designation.
His reply had the following documents attached
1. A covering letter mentioning my reduced salary and designation.
2. An email message from him supposedly accepted by me acknowledging the reduction in salary and designation. I do not recognize this email. My employer had the privilege to setup email exchanges between the employees of the company and I suspect he exercised this option in this case to create this email.
3. A one-sided letter of revision stating the new salary and designation. This document does not contain my signature. The column for employee signature is blank. It carries the signature of the HR manager. Again I am unaware of this document and this is proved by the absence of my signature.
4. Salary slips for March 2009 and April 2009. This reflects the slashed salary. I have seen these for the first time.
I have the Form-16 to prove the higher salary paid for the year and have submitted it to my current employer. I also have the HDFC Bank account statements that prove the monthly salary deposited matching with the higher pay structure.
I want my previous employer to acknowledge this irresponsible act of wantonly understating the credentials in an attempt to hamper my career and as an honest recourse provide clarification to my current employer on the facts of the employment period. I also wish to claim the unpaid wages for the ultimate month.
Questions:
1. Can salary revisions be done based on email exchanges? Should there not be signed agreements for salary and designation revision especially when it is to the lower side?
All my past revisions (promotions and upward salary revisions) were agreed upon by me and my employer on a formal signed document. I wonder why this revision (40% decrement) happened without a formal agreement.
2. The salary has been slashed for the month of March 2009 and the email containing the revision was (supposedly) written to me on the 12th of March 2009. Why was the agreement sent to me on 12th day of the month when the revision was enforced on 1st of the month? Again I want to state that I do not recognize these emails purported to have been sent to me and alleged to have been accepted by me.
I suspect that since he wanted my services in March 2009 he chose not to disclose the reduction of salary to me. The employer knew perfectly well that I would never accept a demotion or a decrement and he would loose my services the moment he communicates the new set of crooked terms to me. My resignation at that time would have spelled havoc on the project I was working on so he kept it as a secret and didn't even give me the salary slip for March 2009.
Please guide me on the options I have. The communication of misleading information by the previous employer has created an environment of distrust between me and my current employer.
Thank you for reading
My former employer reduced my salary and designation in the last month of my employment without formally signing an agreement with me. I worked for this company from 16 August 2005 to 17 April 2009. The salary for the month of March 2009 was reduced up to 40% without taking a formal acceptance from me. Also the designation has been reduced.
How I came to know?
I was not given the salary slip for March 2009. Since the amount deposited in my bank account was higher than usual I did not suspect of any wrong doing.
I resigned from the company in April 2009 and joined another company in May 2009. I got this new job based on the salary and designation in my former employment for the past year full. As part of the routine my current employer did a background check and later quizzed me that the salary and designation I had communicated to him did not match with the information given by my previous employer. I wrote to my former employer asking for clarification and he replied by quoting the reduced salary and designation.
His reply had the following documents attached
1. A covering letter mentioning my reduced salary and designation.
2. An email message from him supposedly accepted by me acknowledging the reduction in salary and designation. I do not recognize this email. My employer had the privilege to setup email exchanges between the employees of the company and I suspect he exercised this option in this case to create this email.
3. A one-sided letter of revision stating the new salary and designation. This document does not contain my signature. The column for employee signature is blank. It carries the signature of the HR manager. Again I am unaware of this document and this is proved by the absence of my signature.
4. Salary slips for March 2009 and April 2009. This reflects the slashed salary. I have seen these for the first time.
I have the Form-16 to prove the higher salary paid for the year and have submitted it to my current employer. I also have the HDFC Bank account statements that prove the monthly salary deposited matching with the higher pay structure.
I want my previous employer to acknowledge this irresponsible act of wantonly understating the credentials in an attempt to hamper my career and as an honest recourse provide clarification to my current employer on the facts of the employment period. I also wish to claim the unpaid wages for the ultimate month.
Questions:
1. Can salary revisions be done based on email exchanges? Should there not be signed agreements for salary and designation revision especially when it is to the lower side?
All my past revisions (promotions and upward salary revisions) were agreed upon by me and my employer on a formal signed document. I wonder why this revision (40% decrement) happened without a formal agreement.
2. The salary has been slashed for the month of March 2009 and the email containing the revision was (supposedly) written to me on the 12th of March 2009. Why was the agreement sent to me on 12th day of the month when the revision was enforced on 1st of the month? Again I want to state that I do not recognize these emails purported to have been sent to me and alleged to have been accepted by me.
I suspect that since he wanted my services in March 2009 he chose not to disclose the reduction of salary to me. The employer knew perfectly well that I would never accept a demotion or a decrement and he would loose my services the moment he communicates the new set of crooked terms to me. My resignation at that time would have spelled havoc on the project I was working on so he kept it as a secret and didn't even give me the salary slip for March 2009.
Please guide me on the options I have. The communication of misleading information by the previous employer has created an environment of distrust between me and my current employer.
Thank you for reading
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