Dear Seniors,
I have a query, but before that let me introduce myself. I am Samagata Chatterjee. I am working in a company as corporate legal for last 4 years. No during my working days, for a short while I was asked to frame HR related policies which I did. During that period, I was approached by my co-workers for help related to their employment. The problems they were facing were HR related, however in most of the cases I helped them from my legal point of view but in certain cases I helped them with drafting reply to their Show Cause notices as most of them were not good at drafting.
Now my query is:
Q. If I am working for a Company, can I help my co-workers with matters related to their employment.
I find that there are two ways to look at this problem:
a. As I am a professional and bound by my professional ethics, I am bound to provide help to my co-workers for any problems related to their employment.
b. Any problem related to their employment should be between the Management and them and I should not interfere, unless the Management neglects to follow its own policy or any legal provision conflicting with Managements action.
But what the Management proposed for me is to keep a closed eye to the problems of the co-workers. I replied to my Management in line with my point of view as stated above under a & b. What further I proposed to my Management was, if they want me to keep a closed eye, then the Management should not involve me at-all with HR related matters. However the Management had agreed and issued the necessary direction to our HR Dept.
But my query remained hanging. I find that in one hand there is ethical and moral obligation and in other hand is my corporate responsibility. Lawyers tend to balance between these two based on situations, however I need to know from the seniors about their point of view as well.
I have a query, but before that let me introduce myself. I am Samagata Chatterjee. I am working in a company as corporate legal for last 4 years. No during my working days, for a short while I was asked to frame HR related policies which I did. During that period, I was approached by my co-workers for help related to their employment. The problems they were facing were HR related, however in most of the cases I helped them from my legal point of view but in certain cases I helped them with drafting reply to their Show Cause notices as most of them were not good at drafting.
Now my query is:
Q. If I am working for a Company, can I help my co-workers with matters related to their employment.
I find that there are two ways to look at this problem:
a. As I am a professional and bound by my professional ethics, I am bound to provide help to my co-workers for any problems related to their employment.
b. Any problem related to their employment should be between the Management and them and I should not interfere, unless the Management neglects to follow its own policy or any legal provision conflicting with Managements action.
But what the Management proposed for me is to keep a closed eye to the problems of the co-workers. I replied to my Management in line with my point of view as stated above under a & b. What further I proposed to my Management was, if they want me to keep a closed eye, then the Management should not involve me at-all with HR related matters. However the Management had agreed and issued the necessary direction to our HR Dept.
But my query remained hanging. I find that in one hand there is ethical and moral obligation and in other hand is my corporate responsibility. Lawyers tend to balance between these two based on situations, however I need to know from the seniors about their point of view as well.