Employee Suspension: Do We Owe Full Wages After Subsistence Allowance? Seeking Expert Advice

Employee Suspension and Disciplinary Action

An employee was kept under suspension pending enquiry during the proceedings of disciplinary action. In this disciplinary action, the management took a lenient view by awarding the specific punishment of 10 days' suspension instead of dismissal, which was proposed in the Second Show Cause Notice for the proven misconducts. The employee, who was kept under suspension pending enquiry, was paid a Subsistence Allowance as per the T.N. Subsistence Allowance Act. The entire process was completed within 90 days.

Query on Wage Payment During Suspension

The query is whether the management has to pay the remaining part of wages to the workman who was kept under suspension pending enquiry before imposing the specific punishment of 10 days for the proven misconduct (the employee was not exonerated from the charges leveled against him) after adjusting the Subsistence Allowance already paid to the employee during the period of suspension pending enquiry.

Request expert advice on this issue with any court rulings, if available, please.

Regards,

Regularizing Suspension Period in Disciplinary Proceedings

When a punishment is finally awarded in a disciplinary proceeding, the question of regularizing the period of suspension undergone by the employee pending inquiry is an important one. If the disciplinary authority leaves it unanswered, it will amount to double punishment for the same misconduct.

Therefore, while disposing of the disciplinary case finally with a punishment, the period of suspension pending inquiry should be regularized as duty, and full wages minus the subsistence allowance already paid must be given. In the case of disposal by punitive suspension, like the one you mentioned, no wages are payable, but it is important to note that you cannot recover the subsistence allowance already paid.

Another important aspect of the matter is that you cannot award the punishment of punitive suspension exceeding the maximum number of days, if any, so fixed in your standing orders.