Can We Fire Employees for Negative WhatsApp Chats About the CEO During Work Hours?

Group of 4 employees in our company were chatting on WhatsApp during office hours using the office SIM cards and mobile phones provided to them by the company. They created a group for chatting, gossiping, and engaging in very negative and abusive conversations about our company's CEO and director on WhatsApp. Now, our IT team has traced their chats, exported them, and sent them to our CEO and director via email. Our CEO has instructed me to terminate them with immediate effect based on their inappropriate chats during office hours, which have spread negativity about the company. Additionally, we have identified that they are actively seeking other job opportunities. All of these employees are in the non-performer category and work in our Sales department.

Guidance on Immediate Termination

I seek guidance on whether we can terminate them immediately or if we need to issue them a warning letter regarding their non-performance before proceeding with termination. Please advise.

Since they are identified as non-performers, there must have been some communication to them; if so, you can take further action. To sustain any termination of service, principles of natural justice necessitate that the charge is conveyed to the delinquent employees concerned, the evidence against them is conveyed to them, and they are given ample opportunity to produce evidence in their support. This is a time-taking process, and the CEO & Director may not have the patience to go through the process.

Termination Simpliciter

You may also consider termination simpliciter, i.e., to discharge the employee as per the clause in the appointment order. The termination order would state that the services of these offenders are no longer required in the firm, and they are discharged from a convenient date, with salary paid for the remaining days of the notice period. Be careful not to mention any misconduct in the termination order. There are legal repercussions in adopting this approach.

Confrontation and Resignation Option

An option is to confront the employees with all the evidence against them, give an option to them to resign, or else threaten them with termination. The modus operandi has to be well thought out and has to be planned in detail, depending on the personalities of the offenders. From practical experience, this approach is recommended, though it is risky.

Dear professional,

Regarding the above-posted thread, we have discovered a group chat involving our office manager and his team. In this chat, he is instructing his CSO to "mark only entries to show the target of the call in CRM, no need to call the customer." Should we consider this chat as a matter of misconduct warranting termination? Please advise.

Thank you, Lakshmi Narayanan sir, for your advice. Can we treat it as "misconduct of her job duties" and terminate her by giving one month's notice as mentioned in her appointment letter?

Hi, As already stated, conduct a proper internal inquiry. Ensure that she admits that what she did is wrong, and get it in writing. Then proceed with the termination process; otherwise, it might backfire.

Dear Sir, I conducted an inquiry today, and if I send him a termination letter, the company is only obligated to pay him one month's notice pay and leave encashment. This employee has just completed 4 years and 6 months of service, which means he is not eligible for gratuity. Am I correct? Please advise.

Regards,
Dinesh

Thank you, Lakshmi madam, for your valuable guidance. In the case of termination, is this employee eligible to receive an experience certificate and a relieving letter from the employer? Or does the employer need to include any special termination remarks on their relieving letter? Please advise.

Mr. Dinesh, I wanted to suggest a different course of action. The employees need to be called one by one, and inquiries made about their chats and views about the company. The group consists of only four individuals, not the whole company. Have they been counseled for non-performance in writing or even verbally? Just because they spoke against the CEO, etc., should not lead to hurried termination and legal consequences. Give them the option to quit voluntarily; if they choose to quit, no legal hassles will arise. Smoothly ease them out of the company.

Private criticism of bosses is very common, and emotional reactions are avoidable. The whole sequence of criticism is a private chat and not made on a public platform or for all employees. Basically, they need to be strictly counseled and given a chance to reform and contribute. There may be a reason for their unhappiness, and they were the only ones caught since they used the Office SIM/Phone. Precipitate action will not be in tune with the need for natural justice.