HR Law Hotline

Employment Termination and the Boundaries of Corporate Action: The WIPRO Case

This article was first published in lexology.com (July, 24, 2025).

• Private employment is governed exclusively by the employment contract. A determinable contract is not specifically enforceable under Specific Relief Act, 1963. Ordinarily, a contract for personal service is not enforceable except in certain exceptions.

• The Delhi HC’s decision in the Wipro case weighed in on the consequence of the employer employing stigmatic language in termination letter without sufficient evidence necessitating such language.

• The Court underscored that defamatory remarks in employment termination communications can have serious repercussions on the individual’s career and consequently warrant judicial intervention.

I. INTRODUCTION

There have been increased judicial pronouncements on employment-related aspects offering greater clarity on circumstances wherein a termination may be considered bad in law, including the manner in which the termination was done and the consequent remedies available to the employees in such scenarios. Recently, in an interesting and detailed assessment of an employer’s use of certain adverse remarks against the employee in the termination letter and the consequent termination of the employee, the honorable Delhi High Court (“Court”) in Abhijit Mishra v. Wipro Limited, (“Wipro case”), considered the validity of unilateral termination of an employee and whether certain remarks in the termination letter may be defamatory towards the employee and render the termination as invalid.

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Authors

- Kajol Pokkhriyal and Deepti Thakkar

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