Feeling Trapped and Isolated at Work: How Should I Handle My Department Head's Unfair Treatment?

Hello everyone,

I have been working here for the past five years in one department, and my department head and teammates have been mistreating me since I joined, for an unknown reason. Since the start, they have kept me isolated, with no support from anybody, increasing workloads over time, obstruction in my regular work, and work abuse followed by harassment and threats by teammates.

Initially, I was not aware of my head's involvement in this, so I reached out to him from time to time, but no response was received. I also informed him of the above activities by email, but no action was taken on his part. Instead, he increased the flow of these acts, and they started to find mistakes in my documents, but fortunately, I remained safe.

After remaining unsuccessful in a series of events, the day before yesterday, he took my complete work from me and asked me to think and take on another task. Today, when I met him for new work, he told me to forget that and asked me to join another department to finish the pending work of his best friends (he is also in charge of that department). The work has been pending for the past 1.5 years, which may soon get highlighted to higher management. I see that the intentions behind this act are not good, as he wants to finish the work of his friends through me and try to save his prestige with upper management. In case of any error, he may put me in front so that I may get sued by the company.

So I denied doing so, and my HOD told me to give new work from the same department. Upon my denial, my HOD asked me to sit at the office for 3 months without any work.

Now I am worried about my job as well as the intentions behind this 3-month no-work act. I need your opinion immediately to see the way forward as well as to understand the meaning of this act.

Please help me; I am a family man.

You have been with the organization for a long 5 years, right? Still, you are getting harassed by the gentleman? Don't you have a person above this so-called HOD? Why don't you escalate the matter to that person or the Managing Director or any of the Key Management Persons in the organization? That is the only solution for getting out of the situation that you are facing.

My Head of Department (HOD) is the vice president of the company, and nothing in my plant happens without his permission. Today, my desk and PC were taken by his teammates. After this, I feel very bad. I just communicated all this with the plant head and CEO of the company for the first time. However, he asked me to settle and accept his proposal after a meeting with him (as my HOD left me speechless with his persuasive words). During the meeting, I proposed to be relieved without further harassment and not be transferred to another department. However, he strongly denied this and informed the plant head that I need to serve the notice period in a new department as he needs to run the company.

Despite escalating the issue, there seems to be no consequences for him, but now he is angrier with me. He asked me to finish the work within 2 months regardless of the workload.

Currently, I am faced with a dilemma. If I resign without serving the notice period, he will deduct my current month's salary and gratuity as compensation. If I do his work in another department, he will increase the level of harassment, and in case of any problems, he will blame me to solve two issues at once.

Please guide me if there is any way for me to escape this situation.

Dear Jo bhi,

You shouldn't work in such an environment for a long period. Mental peace and health are the most valuable things. Resign without a notice period, take the hit of 2 months, and gift yourself with peace and health. Gratuity cannot be deducted; it is governed by law.

Simultaneously, write an email for resignation mentioning the torture and treatment provided.

If you are correct in work behavior, take it up on LinkedIn with the company name.

If you resign, how can they adjust the notice pay against gratuity? There is no way they can forfeit your gratuity; that is a different law. However, if you do not serve the notice period, they can make negative endorsements in the service records and even mention it in the background verification. This may spoil your career.

At the same time, if you are confident that it will not hurt your career, you should fight with the persons who harassed you legally. Please refer to the Standing Orders of your company for clarification regarding the notice period. Unless otherwise provided in the Standing Orders, the notice period from an employee who does not have any managerial powers is invalid. This is because an employee who comes under the scope of the Industrial Disputes Act is not under any obligation to serve notice to leave the company.

If your company does not have any certified standing orders of its own, then you have to move as per the ID Act and get the protection of labor authorities.

Hello Team, After considering your valuable opinions, I have submitted my resignation on the same day. However, since then, no work has been assigned by my manager and teammates. As I mentioned earlier, they have already taken my initial work and requested me to take on new tasks in another department. I have relocated to that department at the beginning of this month and have been following the assigned shifts, but I have not been given any tasks during this time.

Training and Task Assignment

During the discussion about changing roles, my boss mentioned that the first week would be dedicated to training in order to understand the current procedures. Last week, I assumed that the lack of tasks was due to the training period. However, as the new week has started, I find myself in the same situation with no work assigned.

I am simply going back and forth during this time, and I am becoming concerned about this situation and the procedures regarding my departure. Can you please advise me on what steps to take?

The situation is that you have resigned and are presently on the notice period. Let it be like that. Allow the notice period to be completed before initiating the handover of duties. If the boss is not cooperating with you, tell him bluntly what has been done against you and what is expected from the organization. Make it very clear that it was only due to the management that you submitted your resignation, and now it is their call to relieve you.

Until the expiry of the notice period, if they are not assigning any work, why should you worry? Let them decide whether to assign any work or not. Once you are relieved, the rest of the procedures for claiming gratuity, etc., will follow.