Facing Resignation Over Misconduct: Should I Have Let Them Terminate Me Instead?

Hi All, I was recently asked to resign from my organization. I was issued a show cause notice due to misconduct as I was attempting to reach my manager for personal talks on social media while she had refused to do so.

However, I replied to the notice by posting screenshots wherein it was clearly evident that she and I were friendly with each other in the past and she had recently given me permission to follow her on Insta and had confirmed she'd follow me back as well. That screenshot was from June 2023.

After my reply, management took several days to come to a conclusion, and in the end, they decided not to fire me but asked me to resign from the job. In my experience letter, they mentioned good things about me, and nothing was mentioned that would hamper my image or reputation.

My questions are:

1 - Should I have let them terminate me instead?

2 - They mentioned I'd not be rehired, but this organization has a policy of rehiring after 3 months. Technically, I wasn't fired. I had resigned. So, have they really blacklisted me, or was that just to scare me?

Hi, On what basis was the show cause notice issued? Was it based on a complaint from your manager? Have you used any abusive language on social media with your manager? What do you mean by personal talk?

There is nothing wrong with following a superior on social media. No employer would issue a show cause notice for this. Even if you had used abusive language on social media with your manager, how is it correlated with your employment? Not sure.

Whatever the reason may be, if they released you with good remarks, it's better to accept it and look for a new job. I hope they allowed you to serve the proper notice period or paid you a salary in lieu of the notice period.

1. No, termination wouldn't be a wise option. It could spoil your career and experience.

2. Rehire policies differ from employer to employer. Sometimes, even absconded employees are reconsidered for employment. But now that you have been relieved after a show cause, why are you considering joining them again?

Look for a new offer and keep moving.

I didn't use any abusive language with her. The show cause notice mentioned that my manager had repeatedly asked me to refrain from initiating any personal interaction and to keep our conversations strictly business-related.

They accused me of stalking her on social media without consent, but I posted a screenshot showing that she had explicitly given me consent to follow her on Instagram on June 23. On July 31, she filed a complaint with management, alleging that I had been trying to engage her in friendly talks on social media.

Answer to your queries:

1 - No, they didn't pay me the notice period salary. They completed my full and final settlement and provided only leave balance encashment and the number of days worked in that month.

2 - I am considering rejoining them even after the show cause notice because they are offering work-from-home, and being an orphan and unmarried, it provides me with significant flexibility overall.

Hi, based on your inputs, please find attached.

My questions are:

1 - Should I have let them terminate me instead?

(No termination is always to be avoided unless you wish to proceed with a legal battle against the organization, then the termination letter/email works as evidence.)

2 - They mentioned I'd not be rehired, but this organization has a policy of rehiring after 3 months. Technically, I wasn't fired. I had resigned. So, have they really blacklisted me, or was that just to scare me?

(There is a 90% probability they would have tagged you as "No Rehire."

See, Manish, organizations typically don't wish to destroy the career of an employee unless it's a gross misconduct like sensitive data leakage or financial impropriety, etc. HR would give a chance to the employee to exit via resignation route so that for the outside world (background verification), it would appear as if you have exited like any other employee. However, internally, in your employee file, HR records the misconduct and does not wish to rehire you.

Had they issued a termination letter, then they are forced to give negative feedback in your BGV, which would impact your job prospects in future organizations, higher studies, etc.

You can request your HR to provide you with notice period pay as per your contract.

Thanks.