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Raj Malhotra (graduate)     27 September 2012

Company fired me and not paying my salary

Hello everyone, 

      I really need some advice for my current situation. I have been fired from my job that i had joined recently. But i recently hurt my hand and fractured my finger due to which i had to take a leave for 2 days. But when i joined back my work at the end of the same day company told me to just discontinue my job with them just because i took 2 consecutive leaves in the very first month of joining. And when i asked them to pay for my salary for 15 days that i had worked with them they refused to pay. They did the same thing with one of the employee and fired him in 1 week and never paid him.   is there anything i can do?



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 6 Replies

Kumar Doab (FIN)     27 September 2012

Did you inform the company by phone, email, SMS, letter about the incident/accident and fracture suffered by you? If you made a phone call keep the date, time, phone number at which call was made. If your phone connection is post paid you can obtain call detail/bill from website/on demand also, and keep it safely. Did you submit the leave application? If you have joined after two days, you could have been allowed to submit leave application.

You have mentioned that company has claimed that you have leave in first two months. Can you provide any evidence or witness, if yes you would succeed in establishing that your leave was well informed to company.

Company is liable to pay 15 days salary+ notice pay and issue termination order, as per appointment letter.

It is felt that company has not issued any letter to you and other employees and has verbally asked you to leave and probably you have stopped going to office.

If you have stopped attending office/marking Attendance Company can declare you absconding and terminate and then cite some policy that abscondment is misconduct and hence no salary shall be paid.

Therefore you may submit a carefully drafted and structured representation by letter {thru redg. post followed by email} addressed to good offices of your appointing authority, MD, Chairman, Company Secretary narrating the incidences and mentioning the name, designation, department, address of the employee who has fired you and prohibited from attending office, and conclude that you have not committed any fault and decision of the company may be called back and you be allowed to attend office.

Let elders in the family, competent and experienced well wishers, lawyer/law firm draft your representation.

If good offices do not reply and grant relief all employees may approach o/o Labor Commissioner, lodge a complaint and be witness to each other.

 

In a given situation employee can invoke the Industrial Employment standing orders Act, Payment of Wages Act, SE Act, and ID Act as per explanation of employee under these Enactments or approach civil court. Designation alone does not decide employee is a workman or not.

Confirm if standing orders were applicable to your industry and company and did the company extend these to your designation. If standing orders were applicable and were not formed by your company model standing orders shall apply. The situation expressed by you and bond may be in violation of standing orders of the company.

As per standing orders Act Company should provide service certificate and pay the FNF wages on last day in office.

The standing orders are to be displayed at notice board and should be supplied to employees at nominal charges. You can peruse the RTI route and request the PIO at concerned o/o Labor Commissioner {location: redg office or Corporate Office of the company} to supply you the certified copy of the certified standing orders of the company. Model Standing orders may be posted at Dept. of Labor website of your state.

Sanjeev (Lawyer)     27 September 2012

the cost of any legal action and the time involved will be more than your 15 days pay sp leave it

Raj Malhotra (graduate)     27 September 2012

Yes Mr Kumar i did inform the compay that ill not be coming for work on both the days i took leave, and yes i still have the call info in my cell records. I also have a witness who knows that i informed the compay for the leave. Actually the thing is that company didn't mention any notice period in the joining letter, there was no kind of contract done too. and its not late yet. The whole thig happened in past 2 days only. Actually the company conduct its interviews every thursday so they fire one employee and the next day they call another person to join. they do this in every 1 or 2 weeks they did the same with one of the employee in my presence and they think that the employee will not ask for salary and just leave working for them with no pay. Though the amount is not big enough but my family is going through tough financial problems so i really need that money. 

Kumar Doab (FIN)     27 September 2012

As suggested you may consult elders in the family, competent and experienced well wishers, trade union leader………..and submit a carefully drafted representation to good offices of company under proper acknowledgment, and thus build record in your favor. The good offices are expected to ensure greivance redressal mechanism and resoloution promptly. If good offices do not respond to your SOS,you may lodge complaint with labor inspector/wages inspector in writing under acknowledgment with diary number and seal, and visit by inspector may fetch you results. If you find the inspector is delaying you may adopt RTI route to know status report and RTI application can set the Inspector to fetch results to you. This can be very effective and very economical route.

The process is simple at Labor Office.

If required you may attend the conciliation proceedings yourself or competent and experienced well wisher or a trade union leader can also represent you.

The company is at fault and may pay during conciliation proceedings. The ALC may also press the company to pay the wages. All affected employees may join hands and may approach labor officials and be witness to each other.

The Labor dept. has to take suo motto notice of violations and act.

 

If Industrial employment standing orders are applicable to your industry and company then it shall help. As per act at Punjab Govt. Labor website:

10.   Casual leave.--A workman may be granted casual leave of absence with or without pay not exceeding 10

days in the aggregate in a calendar year. Such leave shall not be for more than three days at a time except in case of

sickness.   Such   leave   is   intended   to   meet   special   circumstances   which   cannot   be  foreseen.   Ordinarily,   the   previous

permission of the head of the department in the establishment shall be obtained before such leave is taken, but when

this is not possible, the head of the department shall, as soon as may be practicable, be informed in writing of the

absence from and of the probable duration of such absence.

 

 

13.   Termination of employment.

(2)  No temporary workman whether monthly-rated, weekly-rated or piece-rated and no probationer or badli shall

be entitled    to any notice or     pay in lieu thereof if his services are terminated ,but the services of a temporary workman

shall   not   be   terminated   as   a   punishment   unless   he   has   been   given   an   opportunity   of   explaining   the   charges   of

misconduct alleged against him in the manner prescribed in Paragraph 14.

 

       (3)  Where the employment of any workmen is terminated, the wages earned by him and other dues, if any, shall

be paid before the expiry of the second working day  from the day on which his employment is terminated.

14.   Disciplinary   action   for   misconduct.--(1)   A   workman   may   be   fined   up   to   two   per   cent   of   his   wages   in   a

month for the following acts and omissions, namely:

(e)    habitual absence without leave or absence without leave for more than 10 days,

16.   Certificate on termination of service.--Every permanent                    workman shall be entitled to a service certificate at

the time of his dismissal, discharge or retirement from service.

 

NOTE. - There is a provision under  this  Act for issuing a service certificate at the time of  dismissal, discharge

or retirement and every person is entitled to take such certificate.

Raj Malhotra (graduate)     04 October 2012

thanks for the suggestions mr Kumar! 

Rahul Kapoor (Legal Enthusiast)     05 October 2012

its also depend on company rules or service rule. so better go through them once..


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