Termination

Termination is and should be the last resort.

If the executive has done some absolutely unpardonable act e.g. theft/forgery, corruption, which can be proved on record, the company can proceed and perform the process of termination.

Usually a Branch Manager is made a part of the HR process of effecting termination and is not an authority to issue termination. A mobile company shall have its full fledge HR/personnel dept. who shall supply and provide all structured communications/formats to be issued by the employee through whom they want to initiate the process e.g. BM. Therefore it shall be appropriate to check with your reporting authority first and establish the reasons to propose termination. An impulsive action and impulsive communications by a BM may not be appreciated by the superiors.

BM may have to gather and provide the data, details, and evidences to HR, and may recommend termination to his superior authority. Thereafter the authorized personnel in HR may conduct inquiry or may ask BM to have a session and report to designated official, and authorized personnel only should issue show cause notice to the executive. It may be a process to refer the matter to legal cell of the company before issuing a final verdict. As per the enquiry and evidences company may issue termination order as per the terms of appointment.

The HR may prefer to obtain resignation, which may save the employee and company to bear the burden of consequences/fallouts of termination. Termination order shall spoil the employability of the employee even if it is a simple termination order. The executive may be a workman. A properly informed employee may contest the termination order. Recently Reliance had to amend the decision of termination and had to be satisfied by transferring the employee to a nearby location.

Kindly weigh your options and take a qualified decision.

Also it is necessary to issue notice giving the employee sufficient time to come forward with his/her explanation. Based on the explanation, being Branch Manager to send your recommendations to the Corporate Office or Head of Office who is competent enough to take final decision for taking necessary action.  In many cases, the explanation may give rise to rethink on major punishments and only minor punishments may suffice.  

If repeatedly the same kind of mistakes/behaviour continues which is against the Company policies, then as a final resort TERMINATION with prior notice can be done.

- M M RAO.

As per the laid down rules the appointing authority or his superior only can issue termination orders otherwise the termination is an illegal activity and if your employee approaches the court then you have to reinstate him with back wages which shall be a suicidal effort for any organization.

Until and unless the inquiry is conducted and the enquiry officer's report is positive you can not terminate the services just like that. You should also think about the seriousness of the misconduct and find out whether it is stands good for termination. For termination the employee history is also imporatant. Hence better send all the details to your HR/ legal department and obtain the inputs and proceed.

Regards - kamesh