Rahul worked at a dental clinic in Indore for almost four years, first as a dental assistant and then as the senior one. He resigned on 26 Feb 2025 to join a hospital chain, served his notice, and on his last day, 28 Mar 2025, the hospital's HR asked him for two documents: a relieving letter and an experience letter.
The clinic's owner, Dr Neha Sharma, had never written either. She'd assumed they were the same letter with two names. They aren't, and the hospital wanted both for a reason. Here's what each one says, filled in for Rahul on our free templates, and the questions owners ask most when somebody leaves on bad terms.
Experience letter vs relieving letter, side by side
| Relieving letter | Experience letter |
|---|
| What it proves | You released the employee from duty | How long they worked, and as what |
|---|
| Who asks for it | The next employer, at joining | Every future employer, and visa or loan checks |
|---|
| Issued | On or just after the last working day | Once the last working day has passed |
|---|
| States the reason for leaving | Yes | No |
|---|
The relieving letter closes one job so the next can start. A new employer asks for it because hiring somebody who's still bound to another company, mid-notice, is a dispute waiting to happen. The experience letter is the one the employee keeps for the rest of their career.
The difference between experience letter and relieving letter, on Rahul's two letters
Both letters were made from the same details. Here's which facts each one prints:
| Fact | Relieving letter | Experience letter |
|---|
| Name | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Employee code | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Designation | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Department | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Date of joining | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Last working day | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Reason for leaving | Yes | No |
|---|
| Every role held, with dates | No | Yes |
|---|
The relieving letter opens with the resignation itself: “This refers to your resignation dated 26 February 2025. Your resignation has been accepted, and you have been relieved of your duties with Sharma Dental Care with effect from the close of business on 28 March 2025.” The experience letter lists every role, with its dates:
| Role | Held |
|---|
| Dental Assistant | 1 July 2021 to 1 April 2023 |
|---|
| Senior Dental Assistant | 1 April 2023 to 28 March 2025 |
|---|
And each ends with a line saying what it doesn't cover. The relieving letter: “This letter confirms that you are relieved of your duties. It does not state your settlement, which is issued separately as a full and final statement.” The experience letter: “This letter states the dates and roles of employment only. It does not state remuneration or the reason for leaving.”
Why the two are kept apart: a reason for leaving belongs on one document, and only that one. Rahul will show his experience letter to employers for twenty years, and a letter that says “Resignation” is harmless, but the same letter for somebody who was let go would follow them everywhere. Keeping the reason on the relieving letter means the experience letter stays neutral for everybody.
Make either one on the relieving letter template or the experience letter template, as a PDF or a Word file.
When to issue a relieving letter
On the last working day, once handover is done and company property is back. Rahul's resignation was dated 26 Feb 2025 and he left 30 days later, so the clinic had a month to get the letter ready and no reason to make him wait for it.
Don't hold the relieving letter back until the full and final settlement is paid. The two are separate, and the letter says so. The settlement has its own deadline, and the steps are in how to calculate full and final settlement.
Can an employer refuse a relieving letter?
No central law names the relieving letter, so there's no statute that says “issue it within so many days”. That doesn't make refusing it safe. Disputes over withheld letters do reach labour courts and High Courts, and the answer turns on the contract. In May 2026 the Bombay High Court held that an employee who left in breach of a valid service bond couldn't force the employer to issue either letter (Bharat Aviation Pvt. Ltd. v. Rahul Sudhindra Soni). Somebody who resigned properly, served or settled their notice and handed everything back is in a different position, and withholding their letter to force them to stay, or to pay a disputed amount, is pressure that's hard to defend.
What you can do is issue it accurately. If laptop keys are still missing, recover their cost in the settlement and relieve the person anyway. If there's a real disciplinary case open, finish it first, and relieve them when it's closed.
A relieving letter without serving notice period
Somebody who walks out without serving notice has still left. You can recover the unserved notice from their settlement if the appointment letter allows it, at a day's pay for each day short, and then relieve them with the actual last working day. The letter records the date they left. It doesn't have to say they served their notice, and it shouldn't.
If they never came back and never resigned, that's absconding, and the letter generator won't write a relieving letter for it. A relieving letter says the company released somebody, and nobody released an absconder. Give them an employment verification letter with the dates if they ask for proof of service.
An experience letter after termination
A terminated employee is still owed an experience letter. They worked the years, and the letter only certifies that. Here's how the relieving letter reads when the exit is a termination instead of a resignation:
- “This is to confirm that you have been relieved of your duties with Sharma Dental Care with effect from the close of business on 28 March 2025.”
The reason is on it, as “Termination”. The experience letter doesn't change at all. It prints the same dates and roles whether somebody resigned or was let go, and it's the letter that follows them. Stick to that, and write nothing about conduct or performance in either one. A letter with an opinion in it is a letter the company has to defend.
If the termination followed a warning, the warning letter and its reply are the record of why, and they stay in the file. The letters an employee carries out of the door stay factual.
