Can a Company Lower Your Reporting Authority Against Your Appointment Terms?

Respected All,

Can the company change the reporting authority of an employee from a higher position to a lower position, which violates the accepted terms and conditions stipulated in the appointment letter? That's also to a position/rank which is typically subordinate to the position in the query.

Thanks,

Dear member,

Your query is interpretative. Rather than giving an interpretative account of what happened, would you mind providing details of the actual case?

Whose reporting authority has changed? Who was the reporting authority earlier, and who is it now? Has the person in question been told to report to his or her subordinate?

Please clarify.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Respected Dinesh Ji,

The company appointed someone as Plant Head for their plant. The company has a notorious history of changing or replacing plant heads and other heads, and the market reviews on the company are very negative. Before joining, the plant head inquired about job security and company culture, but the company assured him. He then joined the company in good faith and with expectations. However, the company hired a candidate as Operations Head after just 6 months, who had been terminated by the company a few years ago. The plant head is hierarchically superior to the Operations Head. Now, the company changed the seating position of the plant head and asked the Operations Head to sit there. The company further pressured the plant head to report to the Operations Head. The plant head is comparatively more qualified and experienced. The plant head is pleading that the position of Operations Head is subordinate to the position of the Plant Head, but the company continues to pressure him to report to the Operations Head through their HR and legal team. The plant head's conscience doesn't allow him to follow the company's unethical and arbitrary wishes. In the appointment letter issued to the plant head, the reporting authority is the CMD/Director. The company has now relieved the plant head, giving 2 months of basic salary, forcefully denying clearing bonus, leave encashment, and 3 months' performance-linked salary. In the appointment letter, the termination clause is 2 months for the company, and if the employee wants to leave, then the notice period is 3 months. The company also takes a bond of 3 years during joining. The company does not give a holiday even on Holi, Labor Day on May 1. The company is in the north and has a stronghold with local administration and politicians. In the last 6 months, at least 25-30 employees from different departments left their jobs after salary, ignoring 10-12 days of salary. The company pays salary very late, not by the 7th of the month, normally paying salary on the 10th - 13th.

Innocent employees are helpless, silently enduring and getting exploited. Our labor laws and guidelines are ineffective, and our government is doing nothing.

In these circumstances, please guide what should the employee, plant head, do?

Thanks and regards,

Dear member,

What has happened with the Plant Head is unfortunate. It is irksome to note the ordeal he and others endure in that company.

Let me come to the point. The appointment of the Operations Head was a signal to the Plant Head that in their scheme of things, he is "de trop." Since the Plant Head continued his employment, the employer humiliated him further by telling him to report to the Operations Head. Even after creating unsuitable conditions for employment, when the Plant Head did not put in his papers, he was told to go.

As far as seeking justice is concerned, the Plant Head can file a suit for the condition of the unequal notice period in the appointment letter and for the non-payment of the Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB). However, one knows well that the wheels of justice move at a snail's pace in India, and it could exasperate the Plant Head. Therefore, whether to reconcile with the injustice and maltreatment meted out to him or take a course of litigation is a call the Plant Head has to make!

Last, about the labor laws, you have described them as ineffective. Please note that not just labor laws, but many other laws have been rendered ineffective. The laws do not become ineffective on their own, but their poor implementation and the broken judiciary make them ineffective. While politicians are worrying about "ease of doing business," they hardly care about the exploitation of the labor that happens while making things easy for doing business. Otherwise, the political leaders are promoting their brand image, calling themselves teachers of the world; these marketing gimmicks rest on the victimization of the labor. That is a sad truth Indians have to live with!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar