These matters usually have two separate strands tangled together: the money you are owed, and the documents you need for your next job. Deal with them separately, because the leverage is different.
Separate the statutory from the contractual
- Statutory dues: earned salary for days worked, statutory bonus where applicable, gratuity where you have completed the qualifying service, and provident fund contributions. These are not negotiable against a notice-period dispute.
- Contractual items: notice pay in either direction, retention or joining bonus clawbacks, leave encashment, variable pay. These turn on what your appointment letter and policy documents say.
The sequence that works
- A written, itemised demand to HR and the reporting authority. Set out each head, the amount, and the basis. Ask for the relieving letter and Form 16 separately, so a dispute on one does not hold up the other.
- Escalate internally in writing. Emails become the record.
- Approach the appropriate authority: the Labour Commissioner, the authority under the Code on Wages, 2019 (which replaced the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 on 21 November 2025), or the competent authority under the gratuity chapter of the Code on Social Security, 2020 (the office the Payment of Gratuity Act called the Controlling Authority). For PF, the EPFO grievance mechanism.
- Civil recovery or arbitration for the contractual heads.
For white collar staff in shops, offices and commercial establishments in Karnataka, the labour codes are not the only door. The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 was not repealed, and Section 39 of it gives an employee with at least six months of continuous service a right of appeal to the prescribed authority against a removal or dismissal made without reasonable cause or without proof of misconduct. Where the F and F dispute is really the tail of a contested exit, that appeal is often the faster and cheaper lever, and our note on wrongful termination and employee rights in India works through when to use it.
| What is withheld | Governing law | Where to go |
|---|---|---|
| Unpaid salary, bonus, wage deductions | Code on Wages, 2019 | The authority appointed under the Code, through the Karnataka Labour Department |
| Gratuity | Code on Social Security, 2020 | The competent authority under the gratuity chapter |
| Provident fund | Code on Social Security, 2020 | EPFO, on an enquiry into the default |
| Relieving letter, experience certificate | Contract of employment | Civil remedy, since no statute compels issue |
| Notice pay, contractual dues | Contract of employment | Civil suit, or a summary suit if the sum is fixed and written |
The forum, in practice
Pick by the head of claim rather than by instinct.
- Unpaid salary, bonus and wage deductions. The authority appointed under the Code on Wages, 2019, which by Section 69 of that Code replaced the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 from 21 November 2025. In Bengaluru this is the jurisdictional officer of the Karnataka Labour Department. The Code sets its own limitation for a claim, so apply rather than negotiate indefinitely.
- Gratuity. The competent authority under the gratuity chapter of the Code on Social Security, 2020.
- Provident fund. The EPFO grievance system and the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, who can determine and recover the dues.
- Contractual heads such as an unpaid bonus promised in the offer letter, a retention payment or an incentive: a civil suit, or arbitration if the contract provides for it. Where the amount is liquidated and arises on a written contract, a summary suit under Order 37 of the Code of Civil Procedure is worth considering, because the employer needs the court's leave to defend it.
Whichever route you take, the annexures are the same and should be assembled first: the appointment letter and any revision letters, the resignation email with the acceptance, proof of the last working day, the last six payslips, the F and F statement if one was issued, the itemised demand, and the employer's reply or the absence of one. Read the appointment letter before you write anything, because the notice, set-off, recovery and confidentiality clauses decide what the employer can lawfully deduct. Our guide on what an Indian employment agreement should contain sets out which of those clauses actually bind.
On timing: a civil claim on money due under a contract has an outer limit of three years, running separately from the date each amount fell due, so a long negotiation quietly erodes the earliest heads. Send the demand with a deadline, keep the delivery proof, and move to the authority when the deadline passes.
A relieving letter is not a statutory entitlement in the way earned wages are, which is why employers use it as leverage. The practical answer is usually a documented resignation, proof of the last working day, and the full email trail. Most subsequent employers accept that record when a former employer is being obstructive, and a legal notice frequently ends the standoff without litigation.
A note on notice periods
An employer can claim notice pay if the contract provides for it, and can adjust it against dues if the contract allows adjustment. What it cannot do is hold back statutory entitlements indefinitely while the argument runs.