Can My Boss Send Me Home Without Warning After a Dispute with a Colleague?

My query is: without a warning letter, can my senior send me home without asking for any justification? Please revert.

The basis of this is I had a fight with a female staff member because of sales. She was a new joiner, and I was just telling her what she did was wrong, but I was a little rude. I have been working with my firm for over 3 years.

Kindly check your company policies. If your behavior towards that lady is classified as "sexual harassment," then you can be terminated without notice and without explanation.

I wonder why your senior would send you home for being a little rude with a female sales staff. This matter needs to be sorted out once and for all. If you knew that she was wrong, there is a way to explain things. In case you can't explain it to her in the easiest/simplest way, you could have updated your senior about her mistake and helped her learn and unlearn procedures or processes, or whatever it may be.

If you had realized your mistake, it's better to apologize and ensure that it is not repeated in the future. Kindly, don't take undue advantage of being with the same firm for the past three years.

With profound regards

Please clarify the following:

- Whether the girl made any complaint against you to the Principal Employer?
- Does "fight" mean verbally or through physical movement?
- Refer to the sexual harassment policies in your company's standing order.

Please note that it is important to handle women employees genuinely. This policy is applicable to women; if women are harassed physically, visually, through symbols, etc., it will be considered against men. Also, the beauty of this law is that if men are harassed by women, no action will be taken against the women.

Thanks,
Jana

Kindly consider my advice below. Your assumptions will definitely confuse all those members reading this thread. Kindly try to acquire more details/information before you post your comments. A verbal fight with a lady arising due to xyz reason cannot be classified under the sexual harassment policy. I hope you understood what I meant.

With profound regards

Going by your brief description, we are not able to determine what went wrong. Legally speaking, your so-called senior doesn't have the authority to send you out because he is not the appointing authority. Legally, no one other than the appointing authority has the power to do so.

Friends have touched upon the sensitive subject of "sexual harassment of women in the workplace." I think everybody should understand the topic first and then discuss whether Anshoo falls into this category or not. Please refer to the attachment for some details about it.

I'm not sure whether you are covered under the Factories Act or the Shops Act, but the provisions under both are more or less similar.

Secondly, if she had complained against you, what picture did she describe about the incident that weighed more heavily in the whole episode? You need to talk to your senior or management to find out what went wrong. Most probably, her part of the story must have been very severe as it resulted in the marching orders for you.

If you consider yourself genuinely blameless, which could be supported by eyewitnesses, you can fight it out. Otherwise, the choice is yours.

Regards,
Kumar S.

The very first thing I don't understand is why you came with this thread title "RESEARCH WHY."

Are you here to resolve your query, to get answers to your questions, or to know what is right and wrong after what has happened with you, or are you here to make research on these kinds of issues?

"You are here to know whether what your senior has done with you is right or wrong and how you can proceed now to save your job," so you must have come with a similar subject/title and not with "RESEARCH WHY."

I hope next time you will take care of that and consider these things while choosing your Thread/Discussion Topics.

Secondly, I agree with Mr. Khadir and Mr. Amit. This kind of issue can be sorted out easily without showing this unprofessional behavior that your employer/seniors have shown in your case.

A warning letter of MISCONDUCT according to the general procedure could have been issued to you or any employee found with this kind of act, but cannot be terminated. But if found with this kind of act/behavior again under the company/organization premises for two or more times even after issuing a Warning Letter, can be terminated without further warning or notice. In your case, there is nothing like that, therefore, they certainly have done wrong with you.

And this is not a Sexual Harassment case, not at all.

One more thing, Mr./Ms. Anshoo Kapoor, I would like to say here is that you must have control of yourself while talking to your Juniors as they are not just your juniors/trainees but new to the environment and have no experience and maturity at work like you have. Mistakes are expected from them as it is a learning time for them, being new and just have joined you. And if they are found with any mistake, it doesn't mean you have the right to treat them as you have done. (You have accepted above.)

Even it is your duty to handle these situations wisely and let your trainees/juniors know how they can prevent making mistakes, and you need to play a role of guide/mentor being a senior person.

Now back to your case, how many days have you not been continuing your services? And if they have not issued you any termination letter yet, you need to speak to them again and say sorry to your seniors, even to the girl whom you have wronged. The situation at the time of the act, we all can understand what has impacted your seniors, but now the time has passed, and you must visit them again. I'm sure this will work for you, and you can also set an example for others.

Do not make phone calls or speak to anyone in your company but need to make a direct visit and speak to your HR personnel first and later to your Senior/Boss/Supervisor.

Thank you for replying, but I am going to explain everything. It was the 12th of May, a Sunday afternoon. Everybody was on the floor, and sales were really not happening in our company. We had to attend to customers in turns; every other staff member was at 0 till the afternoon. My sales were around 44 thousand individually. So, my manager called me and told me to help others as well. I started by assisting a girl with attending to her customer, who ended up making a purchase worth 17 thousand. After a couple of more customers walked in, I tried to use my turn, but the girl came between us. I thought she was trying to help me, so I stepped back. These customers bought around 6 thousand worth of stuff. When I tried to process the bill, the girl staff snatched the clothes from me and rudely claimed the sale was hers. I told her we could discuss it later, but she refused to listen. I went ahead and processed the bill, thanking and apologizing to the customers. After they left, I held the girl's hand and suggested we discuss the matter outside. Later, my manager resolved the issue, and we all went home.

The next morning when I opened the store, my manager and regional manager came in and told me to leave for home. It had been a week, and they hadn't asked for any clarification. They asked for my resignation, reinstated the girl, and withheld my salary. Feeling upset, I submitted my resignation. After dedicating over 3 years to the company, being recognized as a star performer on multiple occasions, I don't understand why my manager is taking this situation so personally. He was the one who hired the girl, who also frequently called out. Please advise.

I agree with the points mentioned by Mr. Shaik. Also, work on your behavior and don't react like this in the future. Take it as a learning experience and move on. Good luck!

Hi, please talk to your senior person first and understand the matter before reacting to it.

Regards,
Alm.

You didn't answer Anil Arora's query about why you chose the subject as "RESEARCH WHY." Based on what you mentioned in detail, you obviously made a mistake in 'holding her hand(s).' Like Jana mentioned, such acts can be very easily misconstrued, misunderstood, or manipulated to imply sexual harassment, even though that may not have been your intention at all.

You mention that '.....girl staff did (not?) put any complaints......' On many such occasions, complaints are not in written form. So how can you be so sure that she didn’t complain? Obviously, she did—else the response/reaction and the subsequent action of the manager the next morning would not be what it was. For all you know, she may be well-connected, and the manager preferred her over you for that very reason—you know in India how such 'small' things matter a lot.

Considering Another Aspect

Your manager sent you to 'help others,' which means that maybe he was trying to groom you as a Team Lead? Since you tried to prevent the girl from taking credit for the sale of 6,000, she could have complained verbally to the manager that you were sent to help her, but you attempted to take the credit for her sale—which, again, could have given an impression to the manager that you took advantage of what he instructed you. Does it sound possible?

Also, look at it this way: does the 6,000 sale make a lot of difference for you—after the stage you reached in your career?

Alternative Handling of the Situation

Instead of objecting when the girl snatches the clothes, you could have allowed her to punch the bill and waited for the customer to leave before taking the matter to the manager and telling the girl the right way to behave—if both you and your manager think she has done wrong.

The very fact that you think that she behaved 'rudely' is proof that she is immature and needs to be corrected, but the 'how' and 'when' is what finally matters. But you too, frankly, didn’t behave like a Team Lead/Senior should have.

What Next?

Since you mentioned that you got quite a few awards too for your work here, just look for other jobs—you can definitely get one easily. Except that select those where reference checks of the current employer aren’t there. Else, you know what can happen—unless you make peace with your manager or regional manager, whoever has to give the reference when the time comes.

And 'learn' from the mistake.

All the best.

Regards,
TS

Your senior can send you home without asking for justifications from you. That may be a temporary situation handling mechanism used to avoid unwanted consequences.

Secondly, it appears that it may not fall under any harassment-related act, but it may be advice for everyone to have control over their emotions at the workplace.

Thirdly, there is a lot of difference between sending you home and suspension or termination. Hopefully, it is not the latter of the two.

You may have a talk with your senior to settle these small matters, and in case of any complaint from a girl against you demanding justification, you may also call for witnesses.

So, there is nothing to worry much about if you have maintained your decorum at your workplace.

Instead of making it an issue, take a moment and amicably settle it without dragging the matters.

Have a nice time.