Is the Standing Orders Act Relevant for Our 40-Employee Company? Plus, Handling Misconduct

1. Please suggest to me, as per the Standing Orders Act, is it applicable to organizations with a workforce of 100 or more employees? In our organization, we have 40 workers, so I am unsure if it is applicable or not.

2. Some workers are using abusive language and behaving improperly towards their seniors. Can we terminate them directly or should we follow the procedure of a domestic inquiry?

Whether the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 is applicable to your establishment or not, you cannot terminate the services of an employee straight away on the ground of any misconduct committed by him. You have to follow the Principles of Natural Justice by calling for his explanation, framing charges on definitive terms, and conducting a fair domestic enquiry. Of course, if he admits the charges on his own and unconditionally, you may dispense with the enquiry process.

Umakantan,

You did not answer whether the Standing Orders Act is applicable to the organization.

Applicability of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946

When the number of workmen in the industrial establishment as of today is less than the number either originally fixed under the Act or notified by the State Government from time to time for the purpose of application of the Act, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 will not be applicable to such an establishment. Since I am not aware of the exact number fixed by the Madhya Pradesh State Government in this regard (for example, it is 20 only in Tamil Nadu) and the second question being more important and its answer will be the same in any case, I just skipped the first one.

The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 applies to every industrial establishment wherein 100 (reduced to 50 by the Central Government in respect of the establishments for which it is the Appropriate Government) or more workmen are employed.

Regards, Phelics Joseph

I referred on the site, it's mentioned that this Act applies to industrial establishments employing 10 or more workers. We are basically an IT company with 10 employees. Does it mean Standing Orders are applicable to us? Please help.