Termination of a colleague with a improper reason after he put in his resignation?

Sashi Kanth
I am working in a micromanagement kind of organization. My colleague friend joined a year ago in the same organization and after weekdays from his joining he got a call from HR stating that his BGV turned to be Red and he needs to provide supporting documents for the same. (He received one mail) and he did not submit any. And he has not heard from HR again. He is a very crucial resource in the project; I think considering that no one spoke about it.
Life is good for him till project got stable; after that, he had a personal rivalry with the manager and he resigned from the Organisation. And the strange thing that happened is, 2 days before his last working day. HR called and said he is being terminated as his BGV is not cleared. (He heard this after working with the organization for more than 9 months ). Is this ethical? Do think it is a fair idea to do this? And they said him that they won't be providing any documents related to his experience and other stuff. So, I just want to ask you, is background check is a way to terminate the employee whenever employer feels like? By any chance can he proceed legally? Please suggest me on this.
Dinesh Divekar
Dear Sasi Kanth,
Any termination without domestic enquiry is illegal. Several courts, be it labour courts or high courts have given large number verdicts setting aside the termination of the employee.
You can make a formal complaint to the Labour Officer (LO) of your area under whose jurisdiction your company falls. You are eligible to approach LO provided you do not work in supervisory capacity. What was your designation? How many persons reported to you?
When you approach the labour officer, carry with yourself proof of your employment like appointment letter, photocopy of ID (in case if you have taken), salary slips, bank account statement etc. Try speaking in local language. If you do not know the local language then take with you someone who speaks the local language. As it is a government office, please wear formal clothing.
On receipt of your formal complaint, they will fix the meeting to hear the both the parties. Both the parties are given fair chance to prove their point. Nevertheless, in general there is invisible tilt toward employee.
Please note that LO is different from labour lawyer. Former is government appointed authority and does not take any charges whereas latter is individual professional who works in his personal capacity and naturally his/her services are chargeable.
Lastly, I find that there is mismatch in heading and main body of your post.
Source of the Trouble: - While I have suggested the remedy to redress your grievance, when the doubts were raised about your BGV, you should have sorted them out without ignoring them. One of the reasons of the disputes is your non-communication.
Lessons to HR: - HR has used this employee as "use and throw". Earlier questions were raised on BGV but the matter was never taken to the logical conclusion. It was kept on hold. When the need came to remove the employee, negative BGV was used as alibi to terminate employee. These kind of machinations degrade the work culture. Employee engagement is one of the most dear phrase to the HR professionals. Is this how, employee get engaged with the company?
Friction or strife between manager and his subordinates are common. Against this backdrop, should HR build the bridge between the two or burn it by taking manager's side? HR should step in whenever they observe injustice of any kind. Most probably the sympathies of the ordinary employee could go with the terminated employee.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
HRakash
Hi Sasi Kanth,
HR cannot terminate him for negative bgv before issuing show cause notice first. In that case, HR should also wait for the revert of the employee. Termination is the last resort.
If he has resigned and received the acceptance on the same while serving notice period, the management should allow for smooth exit. However, you have not mentioned reason for negative bgv: if the case pertains to legal troubles with previous org/false information submitted at time of joining regarding educational/employment docs then the management should issue notice asap.
Thanks and Regards,
Akash Sharma
EnrichExports
Dear Mr. Sasi Kanth,
In most of the organizations, where background verification is carried out, the entire process gets over well before releasing the Job Offer. Only if the verification meets the required standards and all the statements / documents produced by the candidate are proved to be valid, the organization goes for releasing the offer.
In your case you have mentioned that your HR had called your colleague after a week from his DOJ claiming his supporting documents as his verification goes to RED. If at all the appointment order had stated that his candidature is deemed to be terminated in case the background verification goes negative, you can refer your colleague to go for a legal remedy.
I just need to get myself clear that on what grounds, the BGV found to be RED. If the issue is with the credibility of the documents provided by your colleague at the time of final interview / at the time of joining, then the employer is not liable for this termination. The offer shall expire automatically whenever the documents submitted by a candidate found to be fake.
However the mail sent by HR can be submitted as an evidence, claiming that even though your colleague have not replied to that mail, HR had allowed him to serve / work with that organization for 9 months (till the termination). Your colleague can claim for the salary for the notice period as promised in the appointment order.
Any way the apt guidance for your query will be provided by the Senior fraternity members only on your detailed explanation, where the BGV went negative.
Regards,
M. Harishkumar
Rahul Chhabra
Dear Anony,
I have a couple of questions. please help me understand the entire case.
1. Did the mail from HR mention what all supporting documents are required, and why didnt he submit any to the employer? BTW what all documents were asked by HR.
2. Was his resignation accepted? Did the organization or management declare his Last working day? Also what does your Appointment Letter say about reference checks or Background Verification.
Besides this yes, if an employee has forged documents or given false information, or concealed police records pertaining to felony or any other crime; employee's services are liable to be terminated as per the clauses of appointment letter.
Regards
Rahul Chhabra
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