Was My Friend Unfairly Terminated While on Sick Leave? Seeking Advice on Next Steps

One of my friends, working in a startup as an HR, was terminated unexpectedly after three months from the date of joining while on sick leave. The reasons provided were as follows, and they stated that they needed to clear FnF in the first week of the immediate month as per regular procedure:

1. Incompetence - Basic HR activities such as attendance and leave monitoring, reporting, and handling employee grievances were not performed.
2. Misuse of flexibility regarding work hours.
3. Lack of self-organization and incomplete tasks.

I do not agree with the reasons mentioned because there was no review of the work done nor were there any one-on-one meetings to discuss the progress since day one, even after outlining my KRA's. There was no feedback provided. At the time of joining, they mentioned that employees could work flexibly without misuse as long as the work was completed. While I may have not been punctual in reaching the office, I always managed to complete my work on time. They never reviewed the work done or the approach taken before coming to their conclusions.

One of my friends working in a startup as an HR was terminated unexpectedly after three months from the date of joining while he was on sick leave. The reasons provided were to clear FnF in the first week of the immediate month, following a regular procedure:

1. Incompetence - Basic HR activities such as attendance and leave monitoring, reporting, and handling employee grievances were not performed adequately.
2. Misuse of flexibility in work hours.
3. Lack of self-organization and incomplete tasks.

I do not agree with the reasons mentioned because there was no review of the work done, nor any one-on-one meetings to discuss progress since the beginning when my KRA's were written. There was no feedback provided. Upon joining, it was communicated that employees could work flexibly without misuse if the work was completed. While the flexibility was utilized, there were occasional late arrivals to the office, although work was consistently finished on time. Without reviewing the quality and manner in which the work was completed, they provided critical feedback.

One of my friends, working in a startup as an HR, was terminated unexpectedly after three months from the date of joining while on sick leave. The reasons provided were as follows, and they stated that they needed to clear FnF in the first week of the immediate month as per regular procedure:

1. Incompetence - Basic HR activities such as attendance and leave monitoring, reporting, and handling employee grievances were not performed.

2. Misuse of flexibility regarding work hours.

3. Lack of self-organization and incomplete tasks.

I do not agree with the reasons mentioned because there was no review of the work done nor were there any one-on-one meetings to discuss the progress since day one, even after outlining my KRA's. There was no feedback provided. At the time of joining, they mentioned that employees could work flexibly without misuse as long as the work was completed. While I may have not been punctual in reaching the office, I always managed to complete my work on time. They never reviewed the work done or the approach taken before coming to their conclusions.

During joining and later, it was communicated that employees could work flexibly as long as the work was completed without misuse. Even though I was not always on time to the office, I managed to complete tasks on time.

Without evaluating the work done or how it was done, they criticized my self-organization and incomplete tasks.

Furthermore, my superior was unsupportive from day one and very rude when approached for anything.

My question now is how they could terminate an employee without any review or even a one-on-one meeting at any point during the employment, especially when the person was on sick leave.

They interviewed a candidate for the same position as a replacement right in front of the terminated employee. When asked, the manager initially said it was not a replacement, but after 15 days, termination occurred. When questioned about severance pay, they claimed it was not applicable and did not provide a smooth relieving process even upon request. They have also not processed the FnF and are not responding to calls. FnF was supposed to be cleared in the first week of April.

I kindly request seniors to assist my friend on how to address this situation and what actions can be taken. Is there a possibility to pursue legal action to obtain FnF and severance pay?

Thank you.

There need not be a review for the management to arrive at decisions. In your immediate superior's view, if you have failed in your expectations on several instances, they have every right to take action. However, normally, opportunities are given, and chances are provided to substantiate the charges leveled against the employee so that the employee can either provide justification or reasons for below-par performance. I don't think any organization can summarily take action. Maybe some facts are missed here... Normally, youngsters who post their problems never reveal the true picture!

Employer's Right to Take Action for Non-Performance

Your employer is definitely empowered to take action for non-performance on the grounds as specified. However, prior to that, the individual should have been given an opportunity to explain their position as per the principle of natural justice.

You may take up your case in challenging such decisions in the court of law.

Dear All,

Thank you for your inputs. I agree with the points mentioned that the organization has every right to terminate an employee at any point. However, I still have a couple of questions to be clarified:

1. How would the employer assess whether the employee met the expectations? Obviously, it's based on the KRAs with specific deadlines and review dates given for each KRA. The work was completed by the committed time along with all the monitoring mentioned.

Let us consider the same case where the employer is not happy or feels that expectations are not met without doing the review. When they felt that feedback should be communicated to the employee for improvement or rectification, it was not done here, and they directly took the decision.

2. They conducted interviews for the replacement in front of the candidate without informing him, but he knew it was for the same position. He questioned the superior and management on the issue and also stated that if it's a replacement, let him know, and he would resign. Their response was, "it's not his replacement, and we don't have any problem with you." However, just 10 days after the employee took sick leave for 2 days, they sent the termination letter and appointed another person immediately.

My question is, it is evident that the management had plans to terminate beforehand but did not communicate even after being approached. How correct is this? Shouldn't they have terminated the employee when they started processing interviews?

3. They clearly mentioned flexible hours, meaning if the work was completed for the day, the employee could leave or finish the work any time without affecting the outcome. Although the work was completed punctually, he was continuously late to the office. Despite never having pending work, being late consistently was deemed wrong.

4. The superior was always very rude and unsupportive in handling things correctly. Instead of asking for work or information, the superior would directly question the subordinate, implying something was not provided or done. When told that the required work was completed, the superior rudely remarked that keeping it to oneself didn't make any sense.

Isn't this considered harassment?

If termination is the solution, what is the purpose of having performance reviews or feedback sessions? How can we claim that a chance is given to improve and not utilized without any communication, review, or feedback?

Now, please tell me, to what extent is termination acceptable?

Regards,
Swathi

We would like to proceed legally against this decision of termination. Before proceeding, I would like to seek senior advice on the extent to which it is correct to proceed legally and its consequences. Does this affect future career prospects?