Dual Employment Dilemma: Can I Terminate an Employee Without an HR Policy?

My company is a private limited company. No HR policy has been created and circulated until now. Can I terminate someone for dual employment?

As I understand from your post, there is no policy framed for anything. I have a few queries:

1. Do you provide an appointment letter at the time of joining?
2. If yes, is there any clause mentioned regarding dual employment or confidentiality?
3. If not, what is the process at the time of joining?

After receiving answers to these questions, I can provide better assistance with the situation.

No appointment letter is given; only an offer cum appointment letter is provided where there is no clause mentioned regarding dual employment.

On what basis do you wish to terminate the services of the employee? You do not have any documentation of your terms and conditions. Moreover, what do you mean by Dual Employment?

If an employee is taking tuitions in the evening, does it constitute dual employment? What if the employee is sitting at night in the shop of his brother? Does it constitute dual employment? You have to be specific. You have to mention what constitutes dual employment in your terms and conditions so that an employee can avoid it.

Your intent seems more focused on terminating the employee rather than any performance issues. How is your relationship as HR with the employee? What is your feedback on him with respect to his performance and behavior?

At this point in time, the best approach, according to me, is for you to talk to the employee, share the concerns of the employee and the company, and understand the reason why the employee is working in a different place instead of with your company. After the discussion, you can then come up with a solution or an alternative. Based on the discussion, you can also determine the rewards and reinforcements for a certain group of employees.

You can try this out and let us know if it worked or not.

Thanks & Regards,
Amit Jadhav

To add to the queries raised by Raj Kumar, it would be better and more useful if you provide more details about your company as well—like how many employees you have, what the activities are, etc. Even a couple of employees can make a Private Limited company, so that doesn't really mean anything with respect to such issues.

Regards,
TS

I have gone through the ongoing discussion on the subject with much interest. It transpires from the discussions of the members that you have no locus standi to terminate his services when no condition of service is attached to his placement on the job. If your work is not affected by his working somewhere else, it should not be a matter of concern. If the individual's working is affecting your business performance-wise and your business secrets are divulged outside by him, then of course, it is a matter of concern, and you can initiate action against him.

Regards,
BS Kalsi
Member since Aug 2011