r2i forum

Hi,
How important is a relieving letter from an employer? My employment verification and reference checks are complete but my employer in US is not willing to let me go until a date which if I push I could lose my offer in India. My replacement did not start hence the hesitancy on my employer's part. I have already given 2 months heads up and formal notice which was 'not accepted'.

PS: This is valid post and would like your feedback without questions like 'who is the employer and what are the salary details etc'. I will share those in the interest of the community when the time comes.

From my experience:
I am guessing you are taking job in India and resigned from US. Please correct if wrong and then I will revise.
Relieving letter is not standard practice in US but in India. So if your INdian employer is asking then your latest offer letter/employment supporting letter along with paystubs should do. In case they need you can furnish past W2s. Any emplyer communication like spot award or client appreciation can put more value to your claim.
On side note there should not be any contraints you accepting job offer. You need these documentation after you join. Make sure you take printouts in advance of any employer specific resources such as emails.

I am not sure if it helps you now, but in the past I had thought that my employer can pose problems giving relieving letter. So I got employment letter from them for 'parents visa purposes' before resigning.

Also, In US most states are at will employment states and hence, 2 months notice is more than enough to leave a job. Michigan is at will state. So check this link http://research.lawyers.com/Michigan/Employment-Law-in-Michigan.html "In Michigan, employees are presumed to be "at will." At-will employees may be terminated for any reason, so long as it's not illegal. Generally, employees who work under an employment contract can only be terminated for reasons specified in the contract. In Michigan, in order to overcome the at-will presumption, an employee must show that the employer made clear and unequivocal statements of job security to the employee."

So I guess you won't have problem leaving the employer at any time. Now matter of relieving letter/experience letter, write a formal letter to HR asking for one if they refuse, you can get a letter from your collegues who have worked with you. Also talk to Indian employer he should be fine giving the circumstances. My experience of changing 4 jobs in US,2 companies gave me experience letter on my last day of employment and other 2 companies didn't. All job I quit voluntarily. good luck

Thanks a lot for the response. I have the employment letter already (verifying title, salary, start date and salary revisions). They have also said they would be willing to rehire me with good references. This has all been submitted to the background check company in India. Also paychecks and W2's have been submitted.

My concern is if I leave before my current employer wants me to (which is another month) I will not get the relieving letter ((which shows my end date). Can anyone see any issues with raising this with Indian company HR? I have read online that this can bite me later if not today. Is that a true statement? Any ideas to mitigate this?

Thanks,

I do not think so. Make sure to print out your notice whcih says that your last date is such n such. Or even better if you have reveived an acknowledgement of your notice.
Why there is a disparity that you would leave before your agreed end date? Your background checks take a while. How your joining date would be earlier than your last day at current employment? Just curious don't reveal if not deemed.

Relieving letter is not a requirement if your last employer was abroad. Just make sure you keep a note of address and phone numbers of your supervisor which you need to fill in while joining in India. In the excitement of leaving, we may tend to "erase" all information. Your new employer will do your background checks as usual. So make sure to fill the details accurately and not randomly including start date/End date, correct designation as per your current employer and so on.. As an example, a DBA may have a title as "software engineer". Same goes with any contract employment in the past. You need to only give details of your employer and not the client.

Thanks for the question. when I told my supervisor I was leaving he asked for a 2 - 2.5 months transition which I did not agree to but never pushed at the time since I did not have a confirmed offer on on hand. Then after I got the job confirmation I have given him 1.5 month notice. Long story short my replacements never showed up so he is sticking to his original 2 month notice period and I will lose the job if I agree to that. The question is really about leaving 1 week earlier than the 2 months he was expecting.
Hope that clarifies.

Dont burn bridges... Leave your current employer on good note. If they want one or two more weeks, try to work with your new employer and transition properly. You never know, when you will need your old employer or old boss. Convince them that you will be availble on phone, email for any questions they will have, for next 3-4 months etc. COnvince your new employer too about delay, I dont see why they cannot wait. Finding new person for them will take much more than two weeks, anyways!

Thanks all.