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Create a Relieving & Experience Letter
What this document does
The letter an employer issues when someone leaves: it certifies the dates and designation of the employment, confirms the employee stands relieved and that dues are settled, and — where the employer chooses — records what they were responsible for and how they conducted themselves. Issued as a combined relieving cum experience certificate, which is how these are most often given in India. Signed by the employer alone.
Letter
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Relieving & Experience Letter
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What else is in it — 5 clauses, 1 optional
- 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. The addressee comes from the document's context rather than the party picker — the employer signs this letter alone, and a person who signs nothing is not a party to it.
- 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.
- 03
The employment
Who the employee was, what they did, and between which dates. These are facts from the employer's records, and they are what a next employer or a background check actually verifies. Nothing here computes the length of service from the dates.
- 04
Relieving
The operative paragraph: the employment has ended and the employee is released. This is what a next employer is actually looking for, because it is the statement that the person is free to join elsewhere.
- 05
Issued by
How the certificate closes. Signed by the employer alone — the employee is named in it but signs nothing, which is what makes this a declaration rather than an agreement.
After it is drafted
What your State's Shops and Establishments Act asks for
A number of State Shops and Establishments Acts oblige an employer to give a certificate of service when employment ends, and some prescribe what it has to contain. Whether one applies, and what it requires, depends on the State the establishment is in — so it is worth reading this letter against that Act before issuing rather than after somebody asks for something it does not say.
Giving it to the employee, and keeping the file copy
A letter that stays in the HR system has not been issued. The employee needs their copy for the things other people will ask them to prove — a next employer, a bank, a consulate, a provident fund office — and the employer needs an acknowledged copy on file, because the acknowledgement is what answers a later claim that nothing was ever received. Email with the signed PDF attached does both jobs where the employee has a working address.
Keeping this separate from the settlement
Being relieved and being paid are two different statements. This letter says the employee is free to take other work; it does not say the employer owes them nothing. Where dues are still outstanding, confirming settlement in the same breath creates a document the employee can produce against the employer later — the settlement statement is where that confirmation belongs, once the money has actually gone.
Why holding it back is its own problem
A relieving letter or experience certificate withheld can stop a person taking their next job, and the claim for it stands on its own — it does not wait on whether money is also in dispute, and it is not leverage the law treats as available. Where something genuinely remains unresolved, it is dealt with as its own matter rather than by holding this.