New Employer not cancelling EP/IPA

[AmitSharma1]

Hi Guys,
I am in a situation right now wherein,
1. I signed a contract with new employer and the EP and IPA has been issued and approved.
2. My current employer is now retaining me with a permanent position which i want to continue.
3. I asked new employer to cancel my new EP because current employer cannot apply for EP (need to re-apply as there are some changes in salary,etc.)
4. New employer is asking me to pay penalty of 1 month salary (mentioned in offer letter).

Now its not possible for me pay the penalty of 1 month. Is there any way i can come out of this situation? Please help!!!

[smoulder]

1. I signed a contract with new employer and the EP and IPA has been issued and approved.
2. My current employer is now retaining me with a permanent position which i want to continue.

These 2 statements contradict each other. You cannot have an EP approved via a new employer without canceling the first one, reporting for work to the new employer and then they apply for a new EP. Unless what you mean is that you have an IPA which is just an approval in "principle". I doubt that you have any obligation to pay them anything.

Of course, it seems that you are doing a fine job of burning bridges at both organizations and that's probably on you for not thinking through your job change.

[AmitSharma1]

Hi,
Thanks for replying.
Sorry, I might sound confusing here. So basically I am working on a 3rd party contract job and now they want me convert as a permanent employee. In between this process I had signed to a new employer who has issued new IPA. Now I am asking them to cancel my IPA as I do not want to join the new employer and just want to continue with my current employer.
Converting from contract to permanent job needs new EP application and current employer cannot apply new EP as there is already an IPA and EP with the new employer on MOM website.
New employer asking me to pay a penalty of 1 month salary then only they will cancel the IPA.
I hope this make some sense.

[smoulder]

So this is what it sounds like to me.

You are on contract with company A, a body shopping agency. They are your current employers.

They contract you to work for company B where you want to work as a permanent employee.

You applied for a job with company C who I suspect is also a body shopping agency judging by how they are playing dirty.

I suspect that you used your job offer from C to pressurize B and it kind of back fired.

My suggestion at this point is that you probably cannot take up the offer with C. Or maybe you can if you lower your pride - since they are body shoppers, they probably have not too many principles. So your choice.

Or you may just have to wait till C's IPA expires after 90 days. Then B can apply for a new IPA. Of course, there's no guarantee that they will be successful especially given the current climate and the fact that MOM will see multiple applications from different companies for the same employee in a short period of time. In my opinion, you just have to take your chances now.

[AmitSharma1]

Thank you for giving me some insight.
I have reached out to MOM as of now, let see if there is any hope for me.