Resignation acceptance letter format for Indian employers

What this letter is

A resignation acceptance letter acknowledges that a resignation has been received, states whether it is accepted, and fixes the last working day. It is the document that turns a resignation into a date everybody agrees on, which is what the payroll cutoff, the settlement and the handover all depend on.

When to issue it

Within a few days of receiving the resignation. The gap between a resignation and its acknowledgement is where disagreements about the notice period start.

Everything in square brackets is yours to replace. Read the section below on what this letter must contain before you send it, because the template is the easy half.

[COMPANY LETTERHEAD]

Date: [DD/MM/YYYY]

[EMPLOYEE NAME]
[EMPLOYEE CODE]
[DESIGNATION], [DEPARTMENT]

Subject: Acceptance of resignation

Dear [EMPLOYEE NAME],

We acknowledge receipt of your resignation letter dated [DD/MM/YYYY].

Your resignation is accepted. In accordance with the notice period of [NUMBER] days specified in your appointment letter dated [DD/MM/YYYY], your last working day with [COMPANY NAME] will be [DD/MM/YYYY].

[Where notice is waived: The company has agreed to waive [NUMBER] days of your notice period, and your last working day will accordingly be DD/MM/YYYY.]

[Where notice is short: As you will be serving [NUMBER] days against a notice period of [NUMBER] days, an amount of Rs [AMOUNT] will be recovered in lieu of the shortfall from your full and final settlement.]

Please complete the handover of your responsibilities, along with all company property, documents and data in your possession, to [NAME, DESIGNATION] on or before your last working day.

Your relieving letter and experience certificate will be issued on your last working day. Your full and final settlement will be processed and credited by [DD/MM/YYYY].

We thank you for your contribution to [COMPANY NAME] and wish you the best in your future role.

For [COMPANY NAME]

[SIGNATURE]
[NAME]
[DESIGNATION]

What it must contain

• The date of the resignation letter being acknowledged.
• Whether the resignation is accepted.
• The last working day, as a specific date.
• Whether the notice period is being served in full, waived in part, or recovered in lieu, and the amount if recovery applies.
• What the handover requires and to whom.
• When the relieving letter, the experience certificate and the settlement will follow.

The law behind it

India has no single statute governing employment letters. The obligations sit across state Shops and Establishments Acts, which differ from each other, and a handful of central acts that apply to some employers and not others. Each note below names its source and who it applies to.

• A resignation is generally effective on its terms and the notice period in the appointment letter governs, but until the last working day is confirmed in writing there are two versions of it: the one the employee counted from their letter and the one the company counted from when it noticed. Fixing the date in writing removes the argument.
• If you waive part of the notice period, say so explicitly. A waiver that is only verbal becomes a dispute about recovery in lieu of notice at settlement time.
• Where a shortfall in notice is being recovered, the recovery must comply with the deduction provisions of the Payment of Wages Act 1936 for employees the Act covers, and the letter is the right place to state the amount and the basis rather than letting it appear unexplained in the final settlement.

The mistakes that cost money

• Not sending one at all, which is by far the most common. The employee counts notice from their letter, the company counts from somewhere else, and the difference surfaces at settlement.
• Accepting the resignation without naming the last working day.
• Waiving notice verbally and then recovering it in the settlement.
• Treating the acceptance as though it were the relieving letter. They are different documents issued at different times, and a new employer wants the second one.
• Adding conditions to the acceptance, such as making it contingent on finding a replacement. A resignation is generally not conditional on the employer convenience.

Questions people ask

The letters that go with this one

Where the details for this letter come from

Half the fields in this template are ones you already hold somewhere: date of joining, designation, salary structure, leave balance, notice period. Shiftelio keeps them in one employee record alongside attendance and payroll, so the figures you type into this letter are the figures the payslip used.

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