Forfeiture Of Gratuity Does Not Require Criminal Conviction As A Prerequisite

Introduction

In the recent case of Western Coal Fields Ltd. v. Manohar Govinda Fulzele, 2025 INSC 233, the Supreme Court ("SC") held that an employee's gratuity can be forfeited in case of proven misconduct for an offence involving moral turpitude, even if the employee has not been convicted in a criminal proceeding.

This update discusses the judgment and analyses its potential impact.

Background

Western Coal Fields Ltd. ("WCFL"), a public sector undertaking, terminated an employee for securing employment by submitting a forged birth certificate and forfeited his entire gratuity. The birth certificate represented the date of birth of the concerned employee as 1960, instead of his actual date of birth, which was 1953.