Illegitimate termination of services
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 06 June 2011
This query is : Resolved
Dear Sirs,
I would be highly obliged if you find it proper to provide your gracious expert comments on the following matter:
One fine day I, an Area Manager in a Private Life Insurance company whose services have not been confirmed, suddenly got a telephonic intimation from my reporting manager that my services stood terminated with immediate effect. As my appointment letter says “During the probation either party may terminate the service by giving 15 days notice” and “After confirmation of your service, either side may terminate the appointment by giving one-month notice or salary in lieu thereof”; I was shocked with the above mentioned message from my boss. I discussed with him the said clause of my appointment letter but as he was not listening to anything I requested him to provide me a copy of the said termination letter on an immediate basis so that I could discuss the issue with the senior most officials of the organization. But even after my repeated requests I could not be provided a copy of the said letter. I raised the issue to the senior most officials of the organization including The Head-HR, but even then there was absolutely no response from any of the concerned officials. However, afterwards, on one fine day I found my official system ID (Employee ID) as disabled. I again wrote a mail to the senior most managers of the organization intimating them the said development and non receipt of the so called termination letter. I also informed them regarding no-response from the concerned officials on my various related mailers and requested them to look into the entire matter from their side in order to get the same resolved. But again there was absolutely no response from any of the concerned officials. Subsequently, I also forwarded the matter to the Whistleblower committee of the organization and requested for a thorough investigation and resolution of the entire matter. Shockingly, again there was no response from the concerned officials. I kept on writing on an almost daily basis but couldn’t receive any response on my mailers and also couldn’t get any copy of the said termination letter either. When almost 3 weeks were gone since the above mentioned tele-con of my reporting manager and I couldn’t get either the said termination letter or any response from the concerned officials on my various mailers; I wrote a mail to them with the following statements “It is absolutely painful to note that even till now you have not considered it proper to bless me with your kind response on the said matter. Although each of my senior managers concerned, through their various acts in the context of the said matter, have tried in every way to shatter the same; I still have all the confidence in the system of the organization and believe that the whole matter can entirely be resolved 'in-house', without taking the same to the courts of law. Therefore, I once again request you to kindly intervene into the said matter on an immediate basis and arrange for a resolution for the same.” This time the concerned officials came into action and despatched the so-called termination letter. When the said letter was delivered at my place it was found that there was a gap of 22 days between its issuance and despatch. It was evident that either they backdated the said letter or they kept the letter with them after its issuance and still disabled my employee ID and blocked my salary. As the manner in which the concerned officials had acted in the entire matter and the reason stated in the so –called termination letter was entirely objectionable; I again requested, for their kind responses on various specific issues pertaining to the said matter, by sending them another mail. But, again there was no response from the concerned officials. However I continued to send them request mails. After waiting for a few more days, when I didn’t get any response from the concerned officials I requested them to make their stand precisely clear on the entire matter so that I could chart out my future course of action. As a result of this mail of mine I received a couple of communications from the concerned officials stating that they were looking into the matter. Later on, I was instructed to have a telephonic discussion with a senior official of HR dept. I did the same. During the discussion with the said senior official of HR dept, he throughout maintained that nothing wrong was done by any concerned official in the entire matter. He also maintained that there was nothing wrong in the entire process and the said termination was legitimate. Immediately after the said discussion I again wrote a mail to the Whistleblower committee and the senior most managers asking for there comments on the assertions made by the above mentioned official of HR dept and also wanted to know asto whether the said assertions were the official communiqué of the Whistleblower committee/Organization. But again there was no response to my mail. I kept on writing request mails for a related response. After a few days the same official from HR dept. wrote me back stating that whatever was to be said to me had been communicated and also instructed me to not to write any more mails to any company officials. I immediately responded to his that mail and requested him to let me know asto why he was not responding to the various specific issues independently if every thing done in the context was legitimate and correct. I again wrote to the Whistleblower committee and other senior most managers of the organization requesting them to respond on the entire matter. But none of them responded. I kept on requesting all of them, for related responses, by writing mails on an almost daily basis. But the concerned officials didn’t respond. Gradually, in the course, I communicated the entire matter till the level of the MD of the organization and thereafter till the level of Group CEO as well. But again the concerned officials didn’t respond. It has been almost 7 weeks now since I started requesting organizations senior most managers for intervention into/response on/ resolution for the said matter but not even a mere proper response has been provided to me.
Therefore I would like to request all the respected experts to kindly help me out in understanding the entire matter from legal point of view. Haven’t I been tortured by the organization/its officials? From law point of view what violations have been committed in the entire matter? How should I take the matter forward? Which are the forums I should approach? What relief and remedies I can get?
R.R. KRISHNAA
(Expert) 06 June 2011
Dear anonymous
Reasons could not be ascertained from your query for your termination. I suggest you to take appointment in person from your senior management personnel or HR personnel and request the reasons for your termination. But from the legal point of view an employee can be terminated from services during the probation period by the company. Though you say that the termination has not been made as per the appointment letter, I suggest you to seek reasons for your termination before taking any further steps.
I wish you best of luck.
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 25 July 2011
Dear Mr. Krishnaa,
Firstly, thank you very much for your reply.
Secondly, I am really sorry that I could not immediately write further on the issue due to some unavoidable personal reasons.
Further, as I have mentioned in my initial post that the entire matter has already been communicated a number of times to the Head-HR of the organization, MD & CEO of the organization and even to the Group CEO of the company; what more senior managers/HR personnel you are advising me to contact? Additionally, I would also like to mention that after asking me to not to write any more mails to any company officials, the organization also started blocking my different personal mail IDs from delivering any mails to it. Aren’t the intentions of the concerned officials very much obvious?
As far as the reason for the said termination is concerned, they have mentioned the same as “unproductive performance”. Here I would also like to mention that I had raised my concerns regarding the related communications made by my managers as the process, the format and the parameter used for my performance analysis was entirely wrong because the same were meant for a different level of hierarchy and not for the level to which I belonged. Additionally, the data used for performance analysis and taking related decision was also inconsistent and the same was very much evident from my concerned managers’ related mails. However, even in the said performance analysis it was evident that I surpassed the target of the relevant parameter, given to me for the referenced time period, by a huge margin. I brought all these details also to the kind attention of all the senior officials of the organization. But as a usual practice they never responded on any of my concerns. I would like to have kind opinions of the experts of this forum asto how an organization can justify its decision of terminating an employee on performance grounds without even addressing to/ responding to the related concerns of the said employee.
Moreover, in any circumstances, do you think that nothing illegitimate has been done with me by the organization, in the context of the entire matter?
I have tried to give a detailed view of the entire matter in a very concise form so that I can be blessed with valuable opinions of the learned experts of this forum. Therefore, I would like to once again request all the respected experts to kindly help me out in understanding the entire matter from legal point of view. From law point of view what violations have been committed by the organization in the entire matter? How should I take the matter forward? Which are the forums I should approach? What relief and remedies I can get?
Thanks and regards.
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 27 July 2011
Dear Experts,
Please Help.
