Appointment Letter

What this document contains

9 clauses every appointment letter carries, plus 2 you can add.

1. 01

   Who the letter is from and to

   The head of the letter: the place and date it bears, the employer it issues from, and the person it is addressed to. Both are parties who sign, so both come from the party picker rather than being typed into the letter.

2. 02

   Subject

   The one line the letter is filed and found by. Written by the employer rather than composed from the particulars — those live on other clauses, and a clause cannot read another clause's data.

3. 03

   The appointment

   The role, how the engagement is classified, when it starts and where the work is done. The classification is not decoration: the Code on Wages requires a written appointment letter for every worker whatever their classification, and several entitlements — gratuity for fixed-term workers among them — turn on which one applies.

4. 04

   Wages

   What the employee is paid and how it is made up. The components are itemised rather than reduced to a single figure, because the Code on Wages draws consequences from the composition — what counts as wages for provident fund and gratuity is not simply whatever is labelled basic. Nothing here computes a total or checks the split.

5. 05

   Working hours

   The hours of work, the weekly off, and how overtime is treated. Required to be stated in writing, and the clause a dispute about unpaid overtime turns on.

6. 06

   Leave

   The leave the employee is entitled to. Stated as the employer's own entitlement rather than as a statutory figure: leave accrual is governed by the applicable Shops and Establishments Act or the OSH Code, both of which vary, and asserting a number here would be asserting one we have not checked for this establishment.

7. 07

   Notice period

   How much notice either side must give to end the employment. Required to be stated in writing. The figure is the employer's, subject to whatever the applicable labour legislation requires as a minimum for this establishment.

8. 08

   Acceptance

   How the letter closes and what the employee's signature means. Carries no fields — everything it prints comes from the shared context. The employee signs here, which is what makes this an agreement rather than a notification.

9. 09

   Acceptance

   The other side's own words, accepting what the letter offers. Its own clause in an unnumbered section, because it is not a term of the letter and reading as one — indented under the employer's numbered request — is where it was.

Optional clauses

• Statutory benefits

  Which statutory schemes this employment is covered by. Optional and stated by the employer rather than assumed: provident fund, employees' state insurance and gratuity each apply on their own conditions of headcount, wages and length of service, and those conditions differ. No threshold is pre-filled anywhere in this definition.

  Worth adding when: the employer wants to state which statutory schemes apply

• Conduct and confidentiality

  The employer's expectations about conduct and about the confidentiality of what the employee learns at work. Optional and kept short — an employer who needs assignment of intellectual property, restrictive covenants or a garden-leave clause wants the full employment agreement, not this letter.

  Worth adding when: the employer wants a short conduct and confidentiality paragraph

What the law requires

A written appointment letter is now required for every worker

The labour codes require an employer to issue a written appointment letter to every worker, whatever the classification — permanent, fixed-term, contract or gig. The letter must set out the terms of the engagement, including the role, the wages, the hours, the leave and the notice period.

Code on Wages 2019 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, in force from 21 November 2025

What counts as wages is not the same as what is labelled basic

The Code on Wages defines wages by reference to remuneration less certain excluded components, and provides that where those excluded components exceed a prescribed proportion of total remuneration, the excess is treated as wages. The consequence is that provident fund, gratuity and other statutory entitlements may be calculated on a larger figure than the component labelled basic. How a salary is structured is the employer's decision; what it is worth for statutory purposes is not.

Code on Wages 2019, s. 2(y) and its proviso

Classification carries consequences

A fixed-term worker is entitled to the same wages, hours and statutory benefits as a permanent worker doing the same work, and under the Code on Social Security becomes entitled to gratuity on completing the prescribed period of fixed-term service — shorter than the period that applies to other employees. Gig and platform workers are brought within the social security framework by their own provisions. Classifying an engagement to avoid an entitlement does not avoid it.

Industrial Relations Code 2020 and Code on Social Security 2020 (fixed-term employment; gig and platform workers)

Hours and leave are set by legislation that varies

Working hours, weekly rest, overtime and annual leave with wages are governed by the OSH Code for the establishments it covers, and for most offices and shops by the applicable State Shops and Establishments Act. What an appointment letter states cannot be less than what the applicable legislation requires, and what that is depends on the State and the establishment.

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020; the applicable State Shops and Establishments Act

A notice period is subject to the law that governs termination

A notice period agreed in a letter operates subject to the Industrial Relations Code, which prescribes notice, compensation and in some cases prior permission for ending the employment of workers in establishments above a prescribed size. Where the two differ, the statutory requirement governs.

Industrial Relations Code 2020 (notice of termination and retrenchment)

Restrictive covenants belong elsewhere

An agreement in restraint of trade is void under s. 27 of the Indian Contract Act, and post-employment non-competes are generally unenforceable in India whatever the letter says. An employer who wants restrictive covenants, an assignment of intellectual property or a training bond wants a considered employment agreement, drafted for the purpose.

Indian Contract Act 1872, s. 27