Wrongfully Terminated Due to Fraud: How Can I Secure My Full and Final Settlement?

I joined in June 2007 and received a lot of appreciation for my performance. In 2019, a sales manager committed fraud, leading to my termination, even though I did not engage in any illegal activities. Now, how do I obtain my FnF (Full and Final settlement)?

I am polite and loyal.

I worked for 11 years as an Accounts Executive. A salesperson manipulated a purchase order and committed fraud. I visited and scrutinized the fraud, informing the company. The salesperson provided a written statement taking responsibility for all the frauds. However, the company terminated the salesperson, sales manager, and myself in October 2019.

I have requested my Full and Final settlement (F&F) from the company. They replied that they filed a police complaint against the salesperson and would not release my F&F until the case concludes. Since I have not engaged in any illegal activities, how can I obtain my F&F now?

Dear Srinivasan, what has happened with you is unfortunate. However, to give a proper reply to your query, we need additional information. Please confirm whether your company had conducted a domestic enquiry to investigate the fraud. You say that you were the one who informed the company officials about the fraud. Then, in the enquiry, you were expected to be a witness. Even then, why did the company terminate you? Before termination, did the company serve you a show cause notice, and if yes, then what was your reply?

Your designation was Accounts Executive. Did you work in the Accounts Department or the Sales Department? How many persons reported to you?

Has your company paid you the salary till your last working day?

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

I was working as a commercial executive. There is no reportee to me. Once I received the customer purchase order from the sales team through their Sales Head, I sent the same to billing after vetting the purchase order.

Fraudulent Purchase Orders

Here, what happened is the sales guy intentionally made fraudulent POs (22 POs in 9 months) with a GST number and address with a phone number. While vetting the PO, I checked the GST number in the GST Portal, and it was a match.

I called the phone number mentioned in the PO. The person replied, "Yes sir, we have placed an order with your company sales executive and agreed to pay the amount after installation." Since the given phone number was of a known person.

As per the company policy, the payment terms also matched. For some orders, I received approval from the national head as per policy. Machines were also delivered. However, whenever I asked for payment, the sales executive provided various reasons, and we did not receive any installation requests.

When I called the customer number, they replied, "We have received the machine, and we are expecting a bank loan. Once the loan is sanctioned in 10 days, we will call for installation and pay the amount."

Discovery of the Fraud

I personally visited to check the status and found that all the POs were made by this executive. The address was correct, the customer was as mentioned in the PO, but the customer denied placing any POs with our company or receiving any machines from us. I checked with my logistics team for the delivery acknowledgment, and all acknowledgments had only signatures without seals, as the sales executive had made the transporter deliver the machines to a different location not mentioned in the invoices (here, the logistics also made a mistake).

I immediately informed management, and the company sent the HR manager and Sales Head. We visited all locations along with the sales executive to see the machines, which were different from the addresses mentioned in the PO and invoice. The sales executive admitted to the fraud and provided a written statement on a 100 Rupees Bond Paper, promising to pay the entire amount in 3 months and gave post-dated cheques to the company. However, the cheque bounced due to insufficient funds.

Termination and Aftermath

After a month, the internal auditor from the HO came to my office for an inquiry. I explained everything, but one day, my boss came from the HO to my office and handed me the termination letter. I was shocked and asked, but he said, "Sorry Srinivasan, this decision was made by the CLT team, and I am helpless." They did not issue any pre-notice or information. They asked for my signature on the termination letter copy without giving me any time. I signed and wrote in the termination letter that I did not accept this decision.

Now, it has been 10 months, and they have not provided my F&F or any experience letter. Please advise on how to proceed further.

And still, I have not received my last month's salary, PF, and gratuity.