Harassment and Termination

I am working for one of the top IT companies for more than 7 years as a manager. I have clean records until now and I was promoted as a manager 4 months back. I was contracting for one of our clients in United States. I was on deputation in US with a H1B visa. Around 50 days back, I filed a harassment complaint against my supervisor. During a casual discussion, she said "Show me your butt and I have to hit you". I was interviewed by HR folks. My company has an internal grievance procedure that takes care of these issues and the outcome of this complaint hasn't been disclosed yet. A week after this incident, all of a sudden, the client manager said he is not satisfied with my performance because of which he is releasing me from the project. A week after this incident, I was asked to not to enter the client building. Someone in the client company in the US (who was talking to me very friendly until the last day I met her) filed a harassment complaint against me stating that I come to work and leave the work at the same time as her (indirectly she says that I am following her). I don't know when this complaint was filed. I was investigated by the HR folks in my IT company. They are telling me that the company's internal grievance procedure is still analyzing this issue for more than a month. They intentionally kept me on bench onsite pending the outcome of this complaint. All of a sudden, they told me that I am on H1B visa and since I don't have any project, I was asked to return to India on Friday afternoon within the next 24 hours. They chose friday afternoon since I wouldn't be able to contact any attorneys. It looks like they were afraid that the complainant in the client company would file a lawsuit against my IT company. They handed me the flight ticket and the HR manager accompanied me till the parking lot to make sure I leave the building. I don't know if they have sent a mail to INS to cancel my H1B or not. After returning back to India, I haven't got any updates from HR. Since I am no longer in US, can the complainant still file a lawsuit against my IT company? Will they terminate me regardless of whether they find me guilty or not? Since I have also filed a complaint against my supervisor, will termination be considered as retaliation? If they fire me, do they need to give me any notice in advance?

Dear

Quoting your post:

Since I am no longer in US, can the complainant still file a lawsuit against my IT company? Will they terminate me regardless of whether they find me guilty or not? Since I have also filed a complaint against my supervisor, will termination be considered as retaliation? If they fire me, do they need to give me any notice in advance?

The fact is that they wanted you out of US and possibly everything wa stage managed.If your Employer is an Indian Company you can sue them in India if not you will have to sue them there. Your Employers client will not venture into litigation for your Employers sake.

Maybe they have done all this to take you out of American Jurisdiction so as to avoid alaw suit by you against your employer.

Any way this is just our view but you should consult an Attorney who is well versed in Employment related Harassment Laws coupled with Immigration Law to help you out in case you have a plan of going to US again.

These are the occupational hazard of Overses Employment .US Dollars also bring in new type of problems which we are not normally used to in our Indian life.But lets face it.

With Regards
VS Rajan Associates,
Advocates & Notaries,
No.27, Ist Floor, Singapore Plaza,
No.164, Linghi Chetty Street,
Chennai - 600 001.
E-mail : ,
Off : 044-42620864, 044-65874684,
Mobile : 98401 42164.

I work for Indian employer and I am in Chennai. I sent a mail to my company asking them the status of these harassment complaints. They sent me a reply stating that I have been placed on suspension (which is a shock to me because it wasn't communicated to me beforehand) and I won't be paid the regular salary pending the outcome of the complaint. Can you please give a referral for a lawyer in Chennai who has expertise in this area?

They also disabled my email id without notifying me. Is it legal to place an employee in "Suspension pending enquiry" and disable email id without notification?