How to Handle an Employee's Double Resignation and Final Settlement Dilemma?

Dear Seniors,

I have recently joined an organization for the Generalist role.

In my present organization, we had an employee who was appointed in the Senior category. The employee was once found guilty in the way of dealing with business, and the management (on humanitarian grounds) had warned since the employee was a female.

The very next day, the employee sent a resignation letter through the official mail id, and within an hour, it was rescinded with a regret mail for the decision to quit the service.

When the losses incurred due to the employee's misconduct rose too high, the management demanded an explanation, but the employee refused to listen. On the same day, she quit the company by sending an email from her personal mail id.

As the management was keen on the business for the vertical that this person was handling, they did not show much interest in the employee's exit and did not conduct any formal exit/termination process or settle the salary.

The employee went a step further and approached a lawyer, filing a suit against the management asking for salary for the days she had worked until her resignation.

I would like to inquire about the two factors I have mentioned below:

* Is this employee eligible to receive the final settlement/service letter as she did not serve any notice period?

* Furthermore, she resigned from her service, took it back with a regret letter for the hasty decision, and resigned once again. Should we consider it as rejoining until her second resignation?

(Note: The employee worked from Jan '08 to Apr '10 until her first resignation and from Apr 29 '10 to Apr 30 '10 until her second resignation.)

I would appreciate your insights.

Regards, Sunitha

E-mail resignations shall not be accepted unless they are mentioned in the terms of the appointment letter. They should be signed and submitted through the proper channel, fulfilling the terms and conditions enshrined in the appointment letter.

Hi Sunitha,

My views:

1. Is this employee eligible to get the final settlement/service letter as she has not served any notice period? If you have a copy of her offer letter that mentions the notice period clause, signed and accepted by you, then you need not process her final settlement unless the employee (well, ex-employee) abides by the clause. The signed offer letter is a valid legal document. She can be treated as an absconding employee. However, in case you decide to terminate her from the services, then yes, you need to give her any pending dues and finish all financial obligations with her, and also send a termination letter.

2. Moreover, she has resigned from her service and took it back with a regret letter for the hasty decision and resigned once again. So, do we need to consider it as re-joining until she had resigned the second time? As the manager had not accepted the first resignation, it does not count, and the employee withdrawing it is not a concern. She continues to be an employee (not a person who rejoined). The management needs to decide if the second mail can be considered as a formal resignation letter, and if considered so, ask her to get a no-dues certificate, submit her ID card, laptop, and other office accessories, and later can process her final settlement and give her a relieving letter, waiving off the notice period.

Sree

Dear Seniors,

Thank you for the reply.

According to our organization's policy, email resignations are not accepted. This is also clearly stated in the terms of the appointment letter.

A routing hidden ID was created for the CEO's attention, ensuring that a copy of all communication would reach the CEO. It appears that she falsely claimed to be at a client meeting when asked to document and send the details to the GM-Operations. Ignoring the request, she left the office casually.

The very next day, management requested her to submit the laptop for further correspondence review. She promptly drafted an email to the CEO and then left the office. It seems she did not comply with the clause.

In the case of termination due to misconduct, is she still eligible for her dues? Please advise on this matter.

Thank you.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the reply. She submitted the laptop on the day she left, but she is not ready to explain the fraud that she committed. She has been asked to come and meet the panel, which includes the CEO, the Accounts Dept Head, and the GM of Operations. I will keep you posted on the status.

The first email is to be accepted as the official acceptance of the resignation. This should solve the running around. Even if the email resignation is not accepted, the management should take the route as a one-off case involving a senior with a drastic effect on operations. A termination letter will also work just as fine without accepting the resignation since the resignation letter doesn't mention the notice period either. Regarding legal recourse, let it drag, but in the end, it will be in favor of the employer only as per labor laws. Moreover, she would be the one to lose on time and effort on this legal recourse.

RE: Resignation through Post

Please help me to solve this problem. Actually, I have just joined the company, and here I have received a resignation letter through courier. Additionally, a hard copy was submitted to me today morning by the employee. In this case, what should I do?

Please help me

Hi Sunitha,

It doesn't matter whether your company terminated her or she left your organization. Regardless of whether your organization is going to accept her resignation through the email ID (as you mentioned in your post), you must pay her all the dues accordingly at any cost. Firstly, let her relax and divert her concentration away from the case she intends to launch against your organization. You mentioned that she is not ready to discuss the fraud she is accused of committing. It is also your duty to investigate the matter.

At the same time, your organization should initiate a case against her and leave it to the court. She will have to answer your questions in court at any cost. Do not take any legal action against her before settling her dues. If you do not pay her dues, she could easily prove in court that your organization is trying to harass her. By paying all her dues before submitting a legal case, your organization will be in a strong position to defend itself in court by showing that all dues have already been paid to her.

Feel free to revert.

Regards,
Ravi

Regret for my delayed reply. She has been sent a Termination Letter. There are also some legal proceedings drafted against her.

Hi Ravi,

Thanks for shedding some light on this. I will discuss with the management on settling the dues first.

Frauds committed by her that we have found:
- Raising an invoice to a vendor for marketing activities (whom she is closely associated with) and receiving a commission from them. She also included a vendor who doesn't exist in the payment list and issued a cheque without the management's consent. She was a Regional Manager - Marketing.
- Deceiving the management by submitting receipts for conveyance claims without actually meeting the clients.

Other aspects:
- Did not meet the organization's expectations.
- Did not generate revenue for the division for three consecutive quarters.

She was asked to come in today, and the discussion is ongoing.

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Hi Sunitha,

First of all, when you come to know about the fraud committed by her and it's verified, simply draft a letter stating the non-performance and misuse of rights given to her by the organization. Then, proceed to dismiss her with the aid of the standing orders of the organization. (Don't think about the laws and all when one of your employees, who holds a senior post, has committed financial fraud. You can easily convince the court why your organization immediately dismissed her. In any organization, financial fraud must not be forgiven, and even the court cannot question why you took this action.)

Regards,
Ravi

Hi,

Thank you for the suggestions. The employee's final dues have been settled, and a relieving letter has been provided. However, the conduct has been mentioned as non-satisfactory.

She was accompanied by a junior advocate. Initially, things were moving in a bitter way regarding the suit she had drafted against our organization. She had filed a case against the organization with allegations of harassment - both mental and physical abuse. Eventually, she agreed to withdraw the charges she had filed, and we received a letter from her explaining the reason for her departure from the organization.

Finally, everything has been resolved now. Thank you for providing me with timely input.