How Should I Handle Termination for a Long-term Employee with Ongoing Issues?

I need to seek some advice/opinion about a matter of termination. A worker has worked for 7 years in the company, all the while he has had an attitude problem and has been issued 2 warning letters that are in his employee file. Recently, due to his carelessness, he has damaged customer property, and my company has had to pay the claim. Unfortunately, the worker is not willing to bear the responsibility and refuses to pay anything.

The HR department has called him to explain the cause of this damage, and his superior has consulted with him twice, but he still does not admit his fault and refuses to pay the claim even though we offered to pay half. Management is very angry about this and is requesting direct termination.

Since he has been working here for more than 7 years, he is entitled to termination benefits. However, my company is not willing to do so. Therefore, I must proceed with a proper disciplinary inquiry and seek your advice on this matter.

Thank you.

Principle of Natural Justice in Disciplinary Proceedings

1. Do not forget the Principle of Natural Justice. Go through the complete process of disciplinary proceedings and then only come to a conclusion. Remember that the cost of litigation for the company may far exceed the cost you are trying to recover from the worker.

2. Anyways, you cannot withhold statutorily payable amounts (e.g., Gratuity) without proper justification and proof. So, even if you want to recover anything from his terminal benefits, you will have to go through the disciplinary proceedings. Without this, you will not be able to establish that the loss to your customer's property is attributed to the negligence of the worker concerned.

Regards,
Preetam Deshpande