05-08-2025
‘Is it even legal': Indian techie claims Hyderabad firm ‘won't give exit documents' if quit within a year, sparks debate
A post by a software engineer on Reddit has gone viral and sparked intense debate across India's tech circles, after revealing a startling clause in his new company's HR policy: no exit documents unless you complete a full year.
Posted on the subreddit r/developersIndia, the user Royal-Airline9579 shared their shock after discovering this condition buried in their offer letter.
'Just joined a new company recently and found out something pretty shocking in the HR policy. If you leave the company within 12 months, they won't give you any exit documents — no experience letter, no relieving letter, nothing,' the Redditor wrote.
'Basically, it's like your time there 'didn't exist' if you quit early.'
The Reddit user said they understood companies wanting to control high attrition, but called the policy 'super unfair.'
'Especially if someone leaves due to a toxic work environment, better opportunities, health reasons, or literally anything valid.'
The Reddit user added that the policy was clearly mentioned in the offer letter, and the company in question is a small, Hyderabad-based service firm with around 100 employees.
The post quickly caught fire, with hundreds of comments pouring in.
'A shady organisation's offer letter cannot override the labour laws created to protect us from this alleged mischief. If anything goes south tomorrow, you will always have respective state' labour laws in your favour to fight against it,' one Redditor commented.
Another wrote: 'All paper contracts are worth nothing. Not enforceable. Unless it's exactly abiding by laws mentioned. Also, offer letters aren't done on Bond Papers, there's nothing.'
Many said the clause was being used to trap employees who might otherwise switch jobs for better offers or a healthier work-life balance.
'This is not "kinda shady". This is extremely shady. Run from such places. Not worth your time at all,' the third user wrote.
'Brother I have multiple short tenures in my CV (6 years, 7 companies) so you get the gist. While I do get asked a lot about it by HRs and some companies definitely must be rejecting me, I'm on my 8th company currently and 7th year of work experience. Might've been a red flag few years back, not so much now. Also, name and shame the company,' the fourth shared.
'All such things in the offer letter tell you that the company has a toxic work culture,' the fifth user remarked.
