Termination And Legal Notice - Experienced Professionals

Dear experienced professionals,

Need your expert advice in the following matter.

I am an HR professional with around 11 years of experience.

For the past 11.5 months, I was working as an HR senior manager. The managing director of the company suddenly issued me a termination letter last Monday. They didn't even allow me to come inside the office; he specifically waited there and issued me the letter.

The letter was issued on normal paper and not on company letterhead.

The points mentioned in the letter were never discussed with me before (neither verbally nor in writing).

I was recently given a 45% increment 4 months ago, redesignated, and the company invested in training for Rs 1,00,000.

Also, he has sent a company-wide email stating that we are terminating this person due to behavioral issues.

I suspect high-level politics are involved here. The company is owned by a German consortium, and he was specifically invited there to discuss another person (his close relative) receiving a five times salary rise. Upon his return, I was targeted, and he terminated me immediately.

What options are available to me here?

Can I send a legal notice? Will it help? Can I file a defamation case as well since he has tarnished my image by sending out an email to all the employees?

Kindly let me know what I can do here. Also, he is not ready to accept my resignation now. In the past, the company has given terminations, but post-employees' request, they take resignations.

I also have a 3-month notice period. He is simply saying that we will follow the rule book for the Full & Final. I designed and developed most of the policies for the company, and I am very much aware of the rule book. However, this kind of thing has never happened to me before, and I have no idea about the legal options available to me.

Dear Kamal,

What has happened with you is quite unfortunate. Nevertheless, we need to analyze the situation. I can deduce the following:

a) The way you have been removed from the job, has this kind of removal happened with others as well? If yes, then being from HR, you must have been involved in (or seen) unceremonious exit of those employees. Unfortunately, the very sword has fallen on your neck now.

b) Your company, it appears that, has no fear of labor laws. Why this is so that you would know best! Employees who work in such companies, be these MNCs, who have disregard for the labor laws, should be prepared for such contingency.

c) You have written that "I was recently given an increment of 45% 4 months ago and redesignated and company invested in training for Rs 1,00,000.". Now the company terminates you. It is not just simple termination but termination with humiliation. This speaks of the company's culture. It is a culture of whims and fancies.

d) You have written that "I suspect high-level politics involved here, the company is owned by a German consortium and he was specifically invited there to discuss another person (his close relative) five times salary rise. Upon return, I was targeted, and he terminated me immediately.". It appears that politicking is the usual norm in your company. In that case, you have failed to gauge in which direction the wind was blowing.

e) The last sentence of your post says "but this kind of thing never happened with me before, and I have no idea about legal options available for me.". How can a person of your stature say that you have no idea of legal options? If you would not know labor laws, then who else should know? Your management has exactly observed your weakness and has dared to beard a lion in his den.

f) When you were prohibited from attending the office, when you were given a termination order on plain paper, what did you do thereafter? You could have gone to the police station and tried lodging an FIR for illegal prohibition from attending the duties. I know lodging an FIR is no easy task, but by _____ them, police lodge the FIR. It is up to the court to check the validity of the FIR. But then it could have come as a shocker to your MD.

By posting the above comments, my objective is not to rub salt on your wound. But then your post is a manifestation of HR professionals, especially working in MNCs, living in an ivory tower. On one fine day, the tower comes crumbling down.

Solution: Since no domestic enquiry was conducted, your company has violated principles of natural justice. Yes, various legal options are available. You may challenge the termination. Your lawyer will tell you that, but the very first legal option should be to bring a stay order on your termination. Check this possibility first. I do not know in which part of the country you work, but check with a lawyer whether a stay order can be brought from the High Court of your state. Go a little further and find out whether the court passes an additional order on the circulation of the stay order to all the employees the way your termination mail was sent to all the employees. That would be the first kick in the teeth of your MD. Possibly it may bring his morale down and may even revoke termination.

All the best!

Dinesh Divekar

There is more to this than meets the eye.

You were given an expensive training and a salary hike 4 months after joining. Such a person is rarely removed like this unless he has done some serious misconduct. Your MD is not a fool. To terminate in this manner without reason would be illogical. If he wanted this done trouble-free, he would call you in and ask for resignation with the threat of termination. It would be easy. To do this means either he is an utter fool or he has enough evidence of your wrongdoing.

Since I don't know the details, I will stick to the point, assuming you are innocent. Collect your notice pay and F&F. Then file a case for wrongful termination and defamation. Contact a German lawyer and sue the company in Germany for harassment. Their current laws hold them responsible for all anti-labor actions of subsidiaries all over the world.

Dear Mr. Saswata Banerjee,

What you say would be correct in terms of Indian companies but not necessarily MNCs.

Today, Europe is not the same as it used to be. European economies are in a weakened state. Nevertheless, what they still cherish is their colonial mindset. Even now, they consider themselves as masters of the subjects of Asian or African countries.

Yes, Indian subsidiaries of these companies have Indians as Managing Directors but to please their masters abroad, they bend backward. Prolonged subjugation by the foreigners has made Indians subservient, and employees who stand for their rights are considered arrogant. HR often considers a job candidate a problematic person if he/she takes up cudgels against his/her employers. The poster of this post is also an HR professional. It is worth asking her whether during her incumbency as HR, she had selected a job candidate who had filed a suit against his/her past employer.

Against this backdrop, what has happened in the poster's company could be true. Yes, we might take the post with a pinch of salt. The size of the pinch could vary.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Hello Kamal,

First of all, are you a 'he' OR a 'she'?

Asking this since I find in one of Dinesh's responses addressing you as 'she'.

I am NOT touching any of the legal aspects here.

Since you say this is a German MNC & you are a Senior HR manager, I am sure you would know the mail IDs of the higher-ups in Germany for sure. Have you escalated the issue there to anyone?

If Yes, what was the response? And if No, why not? The natural human response mechanism is to take up any issue... personal or official... to the next higher authority.

Dinesh has given a nice practical suggestion... get an Injunction/Stay first legally. That will give you some breathing time to figure out your next PoA. That will also escalate issues internally... since the legal team is bound to send regular reports to their HQ.

And, like Nathrao suggested, actionable suggestions can follow once you post the content [cutting out the names, etc] of the internal emails & Termination Letter you mentioned.

@Saswat & Dinesh--

Knowing how foreigners operate their Units in India, quite often the local Indian Managers take them for a ride... giving crap or rather 'what they want to hear'... and as long as the Top & Bottom-lines are OK, the Indian head gets an absolutely free hand. Foreigners begin a relationship with 'I trust you, so you trust me' while it's the other way round with us Indians most often.

The downside of this would be the guy is OUT once the trust is betrayed... there usually won't be a second chance [I only hope Kamal's case is NOT of this nature].

In essence, I won't be surprised IF the German Heads don't even know about the 'why' & 'how' of this situation... the situation would SURELY be different IF there's any German person in the Indian operations.

Rgds,

TS

What happened to you, sir finally? You just asked a question and went missing. It's better to update your moves so others can benefit.