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India: why confirm a former employee's job?

Every Indian employer must give each employee a letter of appointment (Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, s 6(1)(f)), so your records already hold the dates and the job title we ask about. Confirming them takes a minute and helps the person into their next job. certo asks on their behalf, with their explicit consent.

Law as of 26 October 2026 · Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (India Code, as on 19 November 2025; sections 4 and 6(1) in force from 13 May 2027); Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011

In short

  • Your records already hold these facts. Every employer must give each employee a letter of appointment, with the information the government prescribes (Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, s 6(1)(f)). You are asked only whether the dates and the job title the person claims match your records.
  • The Code expects work to be shown. A contractor must issue contract labour, on demand, an experience certificate giving details of the work performed (s 56). It covers contract labour only, but it shows what the Code expects: a worker can show where they worked and what they did.
  • It helps the person who worked for you. A record confirmed by a former employer is what the next employer trusts. Answering takes about a minute and needs no account.
  • certo asks on their behalf, with their explicit consent. Until the Digital Personal Data Protection Act's consent rules take effect on 13 May 2027, the rule that a disclosure needs the person's prior permission covers sensitive personal data, which dates and a job title are not. The person consented anyway: they started this check themselves, for these facts and no others.
  • You do not have to answer. No Indian law obliges an employer to answer certo. Declining is fine.

The labour codes

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, in force since 21 November 2025. Quoted from India Code. We found no provision of the central labour codes that obliges every employer to issue a certificate of service, or that limits what an employer may say about a former employee. Some state shops and establishments laws have rules of their own; this page does not cover them.

Section 6(1)(f): the letter of appointment

issue a letter of appointment to every employee on his appointment in the establishment, with such information and in such form as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government

Every employer must give each employee a letter of appointment, with the information and in the form the government prescribes. You are asked only whether the dates and the title the person claims match your records.

Section 56: an experience certificate for contract labour

Every concerned contractor shall issue, on demand, experience certificate, in such form as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government, to the contract labour giving details of the work performed by such contract labour.

The Code already expects a worker to be able to show where they worked and what they did.

Personal data

Which law applies today. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 comes into force in stages. Its grounds for processing and its consent rule take effect eighteen months after the notification of 13 November 2025, that is on 13 May 2027:

eighteen months from the date of publication of this gazette, on which the provision of sections 3 to 5, sub-sections (1) to (8) and (10) of section 6

Until then, section 43A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its 2011 Rules apply. Their consent rule is about sensitive personal data:

Disclosure of sensitive personal data or information by body corporate to any third party shall require prior permission from the provider of such information, who has provided such information under lawful contract or otherwise

And sensitive personal data is a closed list:

Sensitive personal data or information of a person means such personal information which consists of information relating to … password; … financial information such as Bank account or credit card or debit card or other payment instrument details ; … physical, physiological and mental health condition; … sexual orientation; … medical records and history; … Biometric information

Dates of employment and a job title are not on it, and certo never asks for anything that is.

From 13 May 2027: consent under the DPDP Act

A person may process the personal data of a Data Principal only in accordance with the provisions of this Act and for a lawful purpose … for which the Data Principal has given her consent

The consent given by the Data Principal shall be free, specific, informed, unconditional and unambiguous with a clear affirmative action, and shall signify an agreement to the processing of her personal data for the specified purpose and be limited to such personal data as is necessary for such specified purpose.

  • Consent, specific to this request. The person named your organisation, certo as the recipient and each fact, and chose to send it.
  • Proof of consent. certo records which account asked, when, and for which facts. Write to support@certo.bio and we send you the record for your request.
  • Only what is necessary. You confirm or leave unticked only the facts listed. Add nothing else: anything beyond them is not covered by the person's consent.

What this means for your answer

  • Tick only what your HR, payroll or personnel records show.
  • Not sure it is the same person? Press "We can't find a matching record". Never confirm a record you are not sure is theirs.
  • Your policy is not to answer? Press "We do not answer these requests". The record shows your organisation declined, and nobody else there is asked.

Sources

This page is not legal advice. It reflects the law as it stood on 26 October 2026.