Can Employees Refuse Duties Without Signed Acknowledgment? Seeking Advice on Notice Board Communication

After an employee is issued an appointment letter by the employer, can the employee demand a Xerox copy of the duties to be done, which the head of the department, every time he has to do his duties and deny doing his duties if not given.

If a duty chart is issued to him and he is asked to sign, he refuses to sign and claims to not have received it at all. If the duty chart is displayed on the notice board of the department, he refuses to see the notice board and does not do his job. Is the notice board a lawful means of communication? Can I just display the notice on the notice board without the signatures of the staff members and expect them to do the jobs allotted to them?

Please suggest what I should do under such circumstances. The staff member is a postgraduate in law and therefore he shows his smartness. I don't want to give him a Xerox copy of my circulars as he may use it to his advantage. Please help.

Thanks,
Best regards,
Prema

Dear Ms. Prema Narayan,

Paragraph-wise replies to your questions are as below:

After an employee is issued an appointment letter by the employer, can the employee demand a xerox copy of the duties to be done, which the head of the department, every time he has to do his duties and deny doing his duties if not given?

It is a little difficult to understand what you have written. Please revise it. If the list of duties is given to the employee, it need not be given unless there is a significant change in it. Obtain the signature of the employee on the Xerox copy of that employee, so that he cannot deny saying it was not given.

If a duty chart is issued to him and he is asked to sign, but he refuses to sign and claims to have not received it at all.

Refusal to sign the duty chart is insubordination. It is binding on each and every employee to receive the official communication. Non-acceptance of communication is misconduct.

If the duty chart is displayed on the notice board of the department, and he refuses to see the notice board and does not do his job. Is the notice board a lawful means of communication? Can I just display the notice on the notice board without the signatures of the staff members and expect them to do the jobs allotted to them?

The notice board is an important means of communication, and every employee must check the notices displayed on the notice board. Yes, it is a lawful means of communication. But have you stated these provisions in your standing orders? Not seeing the notice board is not an excuse for the failure to execute some duties or implement the instructions given.

Please suggest what I should do under such circumstances. The staff member is a post-graduate in law, and therefore he shows his smartness. I don't want to give him a xerox copy of my circulars as he may use it to his advantage. Please help.

Final comments: I don't know whether you are in the private or government service, but if you are in the private sector, then it speaks of your poor recruitment practices. Why was the employee's attitude not detected in the interview itself? Improve your recruitment practices; otherwise, you will end up losing your time in handling such delinquents.

Thanks,

Dinesh V Divekar

"Limit of your words is the limit of your world"