Employment contract for travel agency staff: a working format

You Google "employment agreement format India template", find one from a generic HR site, and email it to your new sales executive with your agency's name swapped in. Somewhere in clause 9 or 10 sits a line saying she can't join a competing agency for a year after she leaves.

That clause is dead on arrival. Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act voids any restraint on working after employment ends, and courts don't ask whether it's "reasonable" first. Your best hire could join the agency across the road Monday, and that clause won't stop her.

This post gives you the letter that actually holds, and the travel-specific annexure protecting your enquiry pipeline, WhatsApp number and client database on exit.

What Section 27 actually voids, and the exception that doesn't apply to you

Is a non-compete clause valid in India? No, not once employment has ended. A post-employment non-compete is void under Section 27 of the Contract Act, with no reasonableness test applied.

The Delhi High Court restated this in June 2025: whether such a clause is "reasonable" or "partial rather than total" (is not required to be considered at all) (Varun Tyagi v. Daffodil Software, Delhi HC, 25 June 2025). Section 27's only exception is the sale of a business's goodwill; nothing covers employment.

None of this touches someone still on your payroll. A clause barring outside work while employment subsists is enforceable, because it's a term of the job, not a restraint of trade (Niranjan Shankar Golikari v. Century Spinning, Supreme Court, 1967). The line that matters is the last working day: bind before it, not after.

This is Contract Act, not tax law: no CA needed. As of August 2026 this position is settled. What follows isn't legal advice for your situation: have a lawyer review the letter before you use it.

The full appointment letter, clause by clause

Here is a complete, paste-ready appointment letter. Say you're hiring an outbound sales executive, call her Priya. Replace the bracketed fields to fit your role and city.

APPOINTMENT LETTER

[Agency Name], [Registered Address]
Date: [DD/MM/YYYY]

To,
[Employee Name]
[Employee Address]

Dear [Employee Name],

We are pleased to offer you employment with [Agency Name] ("the
Company") on the following terms.

1. ROLE AND REPORTING
Appointed as [Designation], reporting to [Manager], with primary
duties of [enquiry handling, quotation, follow-up, booking
closure]. The role may be reasonably modified as business needs
require.

2. COMPENSATION AND INCENTIVE
Fixed monthly compensation: ₹[amount], payable by the [7th],
subject to statutory deductions. Incentive: [X% of confirmed
booking value net of cancellations/refunds], payable
[monthly/quarterly], subject to clause 4 (Incentive Clawback) in
the annexure.

3. PROBATION AND WORKING HOURS
Probation of [3/6] months; either party may end employment during
probation on [7/15] days' notice. Hours: [X]am-[Y]pm, [6/5] days a
week, with travel and weekend work as the role requires in season.

4. CONFIDENTIALITY
During and after employment, you will not disclose or use, outside
your duties, the Company's negotiated net rates, supplier/DMC
terms, commission structures, costing sheets or vendor payment
terms. This survives termination for as long as the information
stays commercially sensitive.

5. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND WORK PRODUCT
All itineraries, costing sheets and other work product created
during employment belong to the Company; you assign all rights in
it on creation.

6. NON-SOLICITATION (CLIENTS AND STAFF)
For [6/12] months after employment ends, you will not solicit, for
a competing travel business, any client you personally handled in
your final [12] months here, and will not induce any Company
employee to leave. Does not restrain you
from being employed by, or competing with, any other business.

7. GARDEN LEAVE (DURING NOTICE PERIOD ONLY)
During your notice period, while employment still subsists, the
Company may direct you not to attend office, not to contact
clients or suppliers on its behalf, and not to work for another
employer, while paying your salary. Has no effect after your last
working day.

8. TRAINING BOND
Where the Company sends you for external training or a
supplier-sponsored familiarisation programme, its documented cost
(invoices, receipts, or apportioned trainer time) will be annexed.
Resigning within [12] months of completing it means reimbursing
that cost on a straight-line reducing basis for months not served.

9. TERMINATION AND NOTICE
Either party may end employment on [30/60] days' written notice, or
pay in lieu. The Company may terminate without notice for proven
misconduct, fraud, or material breach.

10. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION
Governed by the laws of India. Courts at [City], [State] have
exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute under this agreement.

For [Agency Name]              Accepted:
_____________________          _____________________
[Authorised Signatory]          [Employee Name]

Notice what's missing: no clause stops Priya joining a competitor, or starting her own agency, once she leaves. That's deliberate. A post-employment non-compete is void, and a clause a court will strike down only teaches your team that your paperwork doesn't mean much. Clauses 4, 6, 7 and 8 are worded the way they are for reasons covered next.

What survives: confidentiality, non-solicitation, garden leave and the bond

Each surviving clause holds up only within its own narrower condition.

Clause	Holds up when	Fails when	Case law
Confidentiality	Scoped to rates, supplier terms, commissions	Framed as a bare "client list"	Navigators Logistics v. Qureshi, Delhi HC, 2018
Non-solicitation	Narrow scope, evidence of actual solicitation	Vague, unproven, broad relief sought	VFS Global v. Roy; Nian Media v. Prabakar
Garden leave	Runs only during an active notice period	Runs after termination, even if paid	VFS Global v. Roy, Bombay HC, 2007
Training bond	Tied to invoices, receipts, apportioned cost	A round, unsubstantiated figure	Bim Modeling v. Kumar, Delhi, 2025

What is a non-solicitation clause? A promise a departing employee won't actively pull clients or staff to a new employer, unlike a non-compete, which stops them working in the trade at all. A Madras High Court ruling held that barring an ex-employee from inducing former colleagues to leave "does not amount to a restraint of trade... and would not be hit by Section 27" (Nian Media v. R. Prabakar, Madras HC, April 2024). The employer still lost: no names, dates or communications proved actual solicitation. Keep it narrow, and keep an evidence trail.

Confidentiality carries the same trap in reverse: a Delhi High Court rejected a claim that a client list was a trade secret, since names and addresses of client businesses are "easily available in public domain" (Navigators Logistics v. Kashif Qureshi, Delhi HC, 2018). Your net rate with a Bali DMC isn't public; that a client travels there is. Write clause 4 around the first.

Careful: A garden-leave clause and a post-termination restraint look similar. A clause keeping an ex-employee off competing work for three months after resignation, even paid, was struck down: payment doesn't rescue a restraint once employment has ended (VFS Global v. Suprit Roy, Bombay HC, 2007). Only a clause running strictly inside a notice period survives.

Training bonds fail the other way: not overreach, but an unprovable figure. A Delhi district court rejected a round ₹2,00,000 "training cost" claim as an "in terrorem" penalty, not a genuine pre-estimate under Section 74, since the burden to prove loss "lies squarely and heavily upon the Plaintiff" (Bim Modeling v. Sanjeev Kumar, Delhi District Court, 19 July 2025). What works: vendor invoices, receipts, an apportioned trainer salary. No paper trail, no number.

The travel-specific annexure nobody drafts

Generic HR templates stop at the clauses above. A travel agency loses money through channels those never anticipate: a shared WhatsApp number, side commissions, a client database walking out the door. Attach this second annexure.

ANNEXURE: TRAVEL AGENCY TERMS

1. ENQUIRY AND WHATSAPP OWNERSHIP
All enquiries on the Company's WhatsApp Business number, website,
social channels or listed phone lines belong to the Company. You
will not route any enquiry to a personal number or account. On
exit, hand back full access to any shared WhatsApp Business number,
including OTP access, before final settlement.

2. NO PERSONAL SUPPLIER COMMISSION
You will not accept commission, discount or payment from a
supplier, hotel or DMC personally for Company business. All
supplier terms and payments route through the Company's books.

3. PASSPORT AND CLIENT MONEY HANDLING
Client passports and identity documents in your custody are logged
in and out per the Company's document register. You will not hold
client advances or refunds in a personal account; funds route
through Company-designated accounts only.

4. INCENTIVE CLAWBACK
Where incentive was paid on a booking later cancelled, downgraded
or refunded, the Company may deduct that amount from your next
payable incentive or salary, or recover it directly if your
employment has already ended.

5. DATABASE AND ACCESS HANDOVER ON EXIT
Before final settlement, you will hand over, in usable form, the
complete client database, enquiry records and login credentials
for any Company system, CRM or supplier portal, and confirm in
writing that no copies remain with you.

Employee acknowledgement: _____________________  Date: __________

Each line targets how departures go wrong here. The number (clause 1) is the asset most agencies forget to lock down: revoke access the same day, whether it was shared safely across staff or handled by one person alone. Clause 3 ties to your broader DPDP obligations on client passport data. Clawback (clause 4) closes the gap where a staffer earns incentive on a booking that later cancels. Database handover (clause 5) does the job a non-compete was wrongly hired to do.

What a court actually gives you, and why paper isn't enough

Courts distinguish sharply between stopping something (an injunction) and paying for something already done (damages), and grant the second far more readily. Even where non-solicitation can be enforced in principle, one court refused the injunction sought as "vague" (VFS Global v. Suprit Roy): it needs a defined scope and proof. Damages are winnable on narrower, proven facts: the Bim Modeling court rejected an unproven ₹2,00,000 training claim yet still awarded ₹75,000 for a documented notice-period breach in the same case. Section 74 caps any award at "reasonable compensation not exceeding" the figure named: a ceiling, not an entitlement.

That's why a signed letter is your fallback, not your first line of defence. Faster than any court: revoke CRM logins, WhatsApp access and supplier portal passwords the day someone's last working day arrives. A pipeline every teammate can see beats confidentiality after the fact too: one person holding the live enquiries alone is a risk no clause fixes after they've left.

The contract still matters: it sets expectations up front and gives you standing to claim documented losses (a contract is only as good as what you can prove after it's signed). Build the access controls before you need them, as you would when hiring your first employee.

Common questions

Is an employment bond legally enforceable in India?

Yes, up to a documented, provable training cost. Courts treat a round, unsubstantiated figure as a penalty under Section 74; the employer must produce invoices, receipts or apportioned trainer salary to justify it.

Can an employer stop an ex-employee from contacting clients?

Only within a narrow non-solicitation clause, and only with evidence of solicitation if challenged. Courts refuse broad requests to bar "contacting clients"; a client who approaches the ex-employee independently is outside any clause's reach.

What is the notice period for resignation at a private company in India?

There's no single national default: it's whatever the contract states, though some state Shops and Establishments Acts set their own minimums. Set an explicit number in clause 9, and check your state's rules (labour codes for a small agency).

The short version

• Drop the non-compete clause. A restraint on working after employment ends is void under Section 27, reaffirmed by the Delhi High Court in June 2025.
• What survives: confidentiality scoped to rates and supplier terms (not a bare client list), a narrow non-solicitation clause, garden leave running only inside the notice period, and a training bond tied to documented cost.
• Non-solicitation needs an evidence trail (names, dates, communications) to hold up.
• A generic HR template misses travel-specific risks: WhatsApp ownership, side commissions, passport/money handling, incentive clawback, database handover on exit.
• Courts grant damages more readily than injunctions. A proven notice-period breach is winnable even when a bigger, unproven claim fails.
• Revoked logins and a handed-over database on exit day protect you faster than any clause a court enforces months later.
• This is a template for education, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review it before you use it.