Appointment letter dispute: no letter, or its terms broken
Never got an appointment letter, or the employer broke its terms on pay, role, probation, notice or a bond? Which law applies, what you can claim, and which forum hears it.
- ✓No appointment letter does not mean no contract. A job you were given and did, for pay, is a contract whether the terms were written, spoken or shown by conduct (Sections 9 and 10, Indian Contract Act).
- ✓If an employer breaks the terms, you can claim compensation for the loss that naturally follows (Section 73). A clause naming a sum for breach, such as a bond, gets only reasonable compensation up to that sum (Section 74).
- ✓Workmen under the Industrial Disputes Act can take a dispute over their terms of employment to conciliation and the Labour Court. Others usually go to a civil court.
What this is
An appointment letter is the document in which an employer offers you a job and sets its terms: your designation, salary, place of work, probation, notice period, and sometimes a bond or a restriction on what you may do after leaving. Together with any later letters, it is your contract of employment.
An appointment letter dispute is a disagreement over that contract. The common ones:
- No letter at all, so the employer says you were "never an employee", or "only a trainee".
- Pay: salary cut, increments promised but not given, a salary lower than the letter says.
- Role and place: a demotion, or a transfer the letter does not allow.
- Probation: kept on probation indefinitely, or let go during probation without the notice the letter promises.
- Notice period: the employer ended the job without the notice in the letter — or will not let you leave after you gave it.
- Bonds and restrictions: a demand that you pay a bond amount, or a threat over a non-compete clause.
- Exit papers: relieving letter, experience certificate or the full and final settlement withheld.
When it applies
Which law decides your dispute depends on two things.
1. The contract. Every employment is a contract, written or not. An agreement is a contract when it is made by free consent, for lawful consideration and a lawful object (Section 10, Indian Contract Act), and a promise can be express, in words, or implied, from conduct (Section 9). If the employer breaks a term, you are entitled to compensation for the loss that naturally arose from the breach, but not for remote or indirect loss (Section 73). Where the contract itself names a sum for breach, the court awards only reasonable compensation up to that sum (Section 74). Any agreement that restrains you from carrying on a lawful profession, trade or business is void to that extent (Section 27).
2. Whether you are a workman. If you are a workman under Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 — anyone employed to do manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory work for pay, but not people employed mainly as managers or administrators, or supervisors drawing wages above ten thousand rupees a month or doing mainly managerial work — then a dispute "connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment" is an industrial dispute (Section 2(k)). It can go to the labour department's conciliation officer and then to the Labour Court. For some changes to conditions of service, the employer must give notice and wait twenty-one days first (Section 9A).
Other rules can also apply: standing orders under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 in establishments it covers, and your state's Shops and Establishments Act, which deals with matters such as notice and leave in shops and offices. Your advocate will check which apply to you.
The steps and the timeline
1. Put the terms together (days 1 to 3). Find the appointment letter, the offer email, any later letters, the HR policy you were given, and salary slips. If there is no letter, collect what proves the job and its terms: salary credits, ID card, emails, attendance, PF entries.
2. Write down the breach. Which term, what the employer did, from when, and what it cost you, month by month.
3. Write to the employer (week 1). A calm email to HR quoting the term and asking for it to be honoured, or for the amount owed, by a date. Keep a copy.
4. A legal notice (weeks 2 to 4). If that does not work, an advocate's notice sets out the contract, the breach, the law and the demand, and gives a time to reply — usually fifteen days. If your job was ended, see Wrongful termination notice.
5. The forum, if it is not settled.
- A workman goes to the conciliation officer, and if conciliation fails, to the Labour Court — by the government's reference, or, where the dispute is about the ending of the job, by applying directly after 45 days and within three years (Section 2A). See Labour Court application.
- Anyone else files a civil suit for damages or the amount due. A suit has a time limit under the Limitation Act; see limitation periods.
- Gratuity and PF have their own authorities. See Gratuity claim and PF stuck or not deposited.
If you are the one being asked to pay — a bond amount, or a "notice-period recovery" — reply in writing, ask for the employer's calculation of its actual loss, and do not pay or sign an acknowledgement before an advocate has read the clause.
Documents needed
- The appointment letter or offer letter, and any later letters changing your terms.
- The HR policy or handbook the letter refers to.
- Salary slips and bank statements.
- Any bond, non-compete or confidentiality agreement you signed.
- Emails and messages with HR about the dispute.
- If there is no letter: ID card, attendance or access records, PF passbook, emails showing your work.
- Your resignation and the employer's reply, if you resigned.
What it costs
- The notice. The advocate's fee, quoted before you pay.
- A civil suit. Court fee, which each state sets, plus the advocate's fee, quoted first.
- The Labour Court. Any filing fee depends on the state's rules. Under Section 36 of the Industrial Disputes Act, an advocate cannot appear in conciliation, and appears before the Labour Court only with the other side's consent and the court's leave; the advocate can always prepare your case.
What the advocate does
- Reads your letter and policies, and works out whether you are a workman and which laws apply.
- Calculates what is owed: salary difference, notice pay, increments, the bond question.
- Drafts and sends the notice, and reads the reply.
- Negotiates the relieving letter and settlement, or takes the matter to the right forum.
An independent advocate from our panel can take it on. They review your papers and quote their fee before you pay. eMunshi is a technology platform, not a law firm; the advocate you choose represents you.
The document that comes before it
There is no self-serve document for this dispute; the notice depends on your contract and on whether you are a workman. If PF was cut from your salary but not deposited, you can raise that yourself: eMunshi's PF complaint is written from your answers, for ₹999.
Mistakes that sink claims
- Saying "I had no contract" because there was no letter. You did; prove it with records.
- Working on for months under the new terms without objecting in writing. It can be read as acceptance.
- Paying a bond in full without asking what the employer actually lost.
- Resigning without serving or settling the notice period your letter asks for.
- Going to the wrong forum — the Labour Court if you are not a workman, or the reverse.
Not sure which law applies? A 30-minute call with an independent advocate starts at ₹999. The first-steps guide covers dismissal and unpaid dues.
Questions people ask
My employer never gave me an appointment letter. Am I still an employee?
Yes. A contract does not have to be in writing unless a law requires it. Section 9 of the Indian Contract Act says a promise can be implied from conduct, and the Industrial Disputes Act's definition of a workman covers people employed whether the terms are express or implied (Section 2(s)). Salary credits, your ID card, attendance records, emails and PF entries all prove the job.
My employer cut my salary without asking me. Can it?
Not on its own, if the salary is a term of your contract. A one-sided cut is a breach you can claim for under Section 73. If you are a workman, Section 9A of the Industrial Disputes Act also requires the employer to give notice and wait twenty-one days before changing certain conditions of service listed in the Act's Fourth Schedule; your advocate can check whether the change you face is one of them.
I signed a bond to pay a sum if I leave early. Do I have to pay all of it?
Not automatically. Under Section 74 of the Indian Contract Act, where a contract names a sum to be paid on breach, the other side can get only reasonable compensation, not more than that sum. What is reasonable depends on what the employer actually spent and lost, for example on your training. Courts have held that a bond is not enforced as a penalty for its own sake.
My appointment letter says I cannot work for a competitor for two years after I leave. Is that valid?
Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act says an agreement that restrains anyone from carrying on a lawful profession, trade or business is void to that extent. Courts have generally refused to enforce such restraints after the job has ended, while allowing reasonable restrictions during employment and the protection of confidential information.
The employer is not letting me go — it will not accept my resignation or give a relieving letter.
Your appointment letter's notice period decides when you may leave. Once you have given the notice it asks for, or offered pay instead where the letter allows, write to the employer asking for the relieving letter, experience certificate and full and final settlement by a date. An advocate's notice usually settles this.
Can I force the employer to take me back?
If you are not a workman, usually not. The Specific Relief Act says contracts that depend on personal qualifications, or that are by nature terminable, cannot be specifically enforced (Section 14), and courts have held that this generally covers employment. The remedy is money. A workman can ask the Labour Court for reinstatement; see Labour Court application.
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Limitation periods cheat-sheetReference
PF complaint — ₹999DocumentUpdated 27 October 2026 · Awaiting review by a panel advocate · General information, not legal advice for your specific matter.