Hi Respected Members, I have been employed by one IT company based out of Mumbai as a Technical Recruiter.
3 days ago while I was working (WFH), they blocked my account and HR called me and told that "You have been terminated due to a Business call".
Today I received termination mail, an excerpt of that is below:
"As per clauses 5 and 6 of your appointment letter, we regret to inform you that your services from Chenoa have been terminated. Extract of which has been mentioned below.
Clause 5 (extract): The term of this Agreement is “at-will”. Either party may terminate for any reason or no reason, with or without cause.
Clause 6 (extract): “The company may at its discretion, terminate your services immediately, by paying one month’s salary in lieu of the notice period”.
In my opinion this termination is illegal for following reasons:
1. They have violated the principles of Natural Justice
2. I am a workman under sec 2(s) of Industrial dispute act 1947
3. ID Act 1947 will apply to company since it is well settled that IT company is Industry
4. The clause 5 of appointment letter they are referring to "agreement 'at will' and termination for any reason or no reason, with or without cause." is not rational and doesn't seem to legal contract.
Kindly enlighten me with your wisdom what is my legal position and what legal remedies are at my disposal
Thanks,
Rahul
From India, Patna
3 days ago while I was working (WFH), they blocked my account and HR called me and told that "You have been terminated due to a Business call".
Today I received termination mail, an excerpt of that is below:
"As per clauses 5 and 6 of your appointment letter, we regret to inform you that your services from Chenoa have been terminated. Extract of which has been mentioned below.
Clause 5 (extract): The term of this Agreement is “at-will”. Either party may terminate for any reason or no reason, with or without cause.
Clause 6 (extract): “The company may at its discretion, terminate your services immediately, by paying one month’s salary in lieu of the notice period”.
In my opinion this termination is illegal for following reasons:
1. They have violated the principles of Natural Justice
2. I am a workman under sec 2(s) of Industrial dispute act 1947
3. ID Act 1947 will apply to company since it is well settled that IT company is Industry
4. The clause 5 of appointment letter they are referring to "agreement 'at will' and termination for any reason or no reason, with or without cause." is not rational and doesn't seem to legal contract.
Kindly enlighten me with your wisdom what is my legal position and what legal remedies are at my disposal
Thanks,
Rahul
From India, Patna
I want to add that I am permanent employee of that company with 1.7 yrs of experience.
From India, Patna
From India, Patna
From the facts narrated and the extract of the termination clause in the service agreement, it appears to remind us of the infamous Henry VIII clause. The Supreme Court of India in the celebrated judgments in Brijonath Ganguly as well as Desh Bandhu Ghosh cases have firmly held such clauses to be arbitrary and unconstitutional. It appears you have a strong case to challenge the termination.
From India, Mumbai
1530From India, Mumbai
Hi KK!HR, Thanks for your valuable inputs. Can you please elaborate how I go about proving that clause 5 is unlawful hence employment contract itself is illegal? I would be grateful to you.
From India, Patna
From India, Patna
Kindly refer case laws namr in full so that I can search on indiakannon and read it myself. Thanks.
From India, Patna
From India, Patna
The process of proving the illegality of clause 5 is through the Courts of law. You will have to avail the services of a competent advocate practising in Labour & Service matters and move the Court. I feel you have a good case.
The details of the case law I referred are given below. These are of 80's and your advocate would be able to give you many more
1. CENTRAL INLAND WATER TRANSPORT CORPORATION LTD. & ANR. ETC. Vs. BROJO NATH GANGULY & ANR.
DATE OF JUDGMENT 06/04/1986 1986 AIR SC 1571
2. WEST BENGAL STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD & ORS.
Vs. DESH BANDHU GHOSH AND ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT26/02/1985 1985 AIR SC 722
From India, Mumbai
The details of the case law I referred are given below. These are of 80's and your advocate would be able to give you many more
1. CENTRAL INLAND WATER TRANSPORT CORPORATION LTD. & ANR. ETC. Vs. BROJO NATH GANGULY & ANR.
DATE OF JUDGMENT 06/04/1986 1986 AIR SC 1571
2. WEST BENGAL STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD & ORS.
Vs. DESH BANDHU GHOSH AND ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT26/02/1985 1985 AIR SC 722
From India, Mumbai
hi, good day..
Clause error !!!.. that company may correct that in future..
On what grounds company terminate you ??? kindly check that reason with a mail or letter format.. that act as a proof..
Because company point of view matters. If you breach any contract means, then you cant proceed for next level.
if you dint breach any company's policies means, then u can lead this case.
Policy error highlight, only leads to policy correction, it wont leads u to get an employment again.
If company highlight about strong confidential data's and highly secured, strong policies means, then once again.. case will get drag
From India, Chennai
Clause error !!!.. that company may correct that in future..
On what grounds company terminate you ??? kindly check that reason with a mail or letter format.. that act as a proof..
Because company point of view matters. If you breach any contract means, then you cant proceed for next level.
if you dint breach any company's policies means, then u can lead this case.
Policy error highlight, only leads to policy correction, it wont leads u to get an employment again.
If company highlight about strong confidential data's and highly secured, strong policies means, then once again.. case will get drag
From India, Chennai
Hi Azfar,
Thanks for your valuable suggestion, HR called me and told me that "you are being terminated due to business call". That I have documented and send them as summary of our discussion looping company CEO to which they have not contested. And please don't forgot they have not followed the principles of Natural Justice. And terminating a workman will eventually cause " Industrial Dispute". And as per sec 25 (F) of Industrial Dispute Act 1947, before terminating the workman, they have to make an application to appropriate government and serve a copy to employee whom they wish to terminate. So, they have made mockery of all due process of law and procedure established by law. They have first disabled my account and then they called me to coarse me to resign. So, they have violated article 21 of Indian Constitution as well. They can't just terminate a wokman on their whims and fancies.
From India, Patna
Thanks for your valuable suggestion, HR called me and told me that "you are being terminated due to business call". That I have documented and send them as summary of our discussion looping company CEO to which they have not contested. And please don't forgot they have not followed the principles of Natural Justice. And terminating a workman will eventually cause " Industrial Dispute". And as per sec 25 (F) of Industrial Dispute Act 1947, before terminating the workman, they have to make an application to appropriate government and serve a copy to employee whom they wish to terminate. So, they have made mockery of all due process of law and procedure established by law. They have first disabled my account and then they called me to coarse me to resign. So, they have violated article 21 of Indian Constitution as well. They can't just terminate a wokman on their whims and fancies.
From India, Patna
And moreover Afzar, I don't feel there is any need for me to mail company about the reason of termination. Because it's amply clear that they didn't want to attribute any reason since in termination mail they clearly mentioned that "you are being terminated as per clause 5" and clause 5 clearly mention termination with or without reason.
From India, Patna
From India, Patna
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Termination-emp loyment_563.pdf
Termination letter.doc