The person in question has been well decorated in his company and has even recently got an increment. But in retrospective audit it is found that he might not have fully done justice to his role. As a team leader he says he could not do it due to lack of resources and limited personal skill. However, he accepts his error in judgement and submits resignation citing personal grounds.
Can the company suddenly act vindictive and hold his FnF, Gratuity, or dismiss him. Can the company financially penalize him for this error?
request urgent advice.

From India, Mumbai
Hello,
I think the company is erring in NOT differentiating between 'willful mistake/wrong-doing' & 'judgement error'.
However, it may be premature/wrong to give a final conclusion without the details of the situation/case--since a lot depends on "WHAT" consequences arose due to this situation AND also the hierarchy of the individual. Pl give the FULL details so that the members can give their 'well-informed' opinions.
Rgds,
TS

From India, Hyderabad
Dear Executor,
If the employee has done it unknowingly... Its normal.. its human tendency to make errors.. After all, nobody is 100% perfect & everybody makes mistakes.
But, in case, if the employee has behaved ambitiously with a lot of intentions, you can definitely penalize him.
Regards,
Bharghavi

From India, Bangalore
Dear TS and Bharghavi,
The person in question is a senior manager with the firm handling a slew of projects. Due to the management not providing personnel needed the team has not been able to do justice to the projects. He has fought with the management multiple times on the account.
Now that the clients have taken action, the compny is blaming him for the same - fall guy.
The company has a history of being vindictive against even juniors leaving.
This question is from the harassed individual's point of view. He has had enough and wants to quit. But, the company's history has him scared.
What does he do? And what risks is he running?
Regs,

From India, Mumbai
Dear Friend
This is done routinely by many companies.
A sincere hard-working person is victimized. he is made the fall-guy, scapegoat or the target of a witch-hunt.
This is to save the skin of others. To put maximum possible blame on him or to punish him to the most; would absolve all others of their part in everything - this seems to be the idea behind it.
Best possible alternative is to counsel the person, explain that this is how life moves; and make him ready and prepared to take on another assignment... and life moves on.
More than any technical solution to his problem; this person needs moral support and guidance.
Warm regards.

From India, Delhi
Dear Executor,
I completely agree with Mr. Rajkumar.
As right now he is not working with you.... the blame game has started to push off the mistakes from one's head to other head... for one's selfish motives...
You need a bakra... and you've got one..
Regards,
Bharghavi

From India, Bangalore
Hello,

I get a 'feeling' that the person in the posting COULD be YOU--anyway, that wouldn't effect/influence the suggestion(s) of the members.

Coming the the options available to the person, First & foremost, suggest him to have all the discussions/decisions taken along the way from now-on IN WRITING. I know it's tough to do it without raising suspicions among the management. One way--that worked out well for me in the past--is this: After a verbal/oral discussion/meeting where any decision(s) is/are taken--especially if this person gets a feeling that something CAN go wrong--suggest him to send a formal/innocuous mail to those who attended the meeting. It could be in the garb of a Minutes of meeting or just a Summary of what was discussed. The logic/reason for such step is 2-fold: (1) to put things in writing & safeguard himself for any later unpleasant situations AND (2) to ensure that all the participants are on the same page--this would be the positive aspect. He can end the mail/note with a line saying/asking others to correct/add/modify if he has missed-out or misunderstood any points. This would ensure that the general agreement among the participants is on-record, even if no one replies to his mail.

Hope you got the point.

Coming to his being scared of the company's past history of vindictive attitude, going by what you mentioned, I have a feeling that this would be known even outside the company--among the competitors & companies in a similar line of business. So any bad-mouthing MAY NOT have much effect--if that's what he is fearing--ASSUMING this person has a reasonably good reputation outside the company circles.

Coming to another aspect, you haven't mentioned the perceptions among the clients about the ACTUAL reasons for the situations which forced them to initiate action. I would differentiate the 'action taken' from the 'perception' of the clients--the former being what they are expected to do officially & the later being 'in the know' of the issues 'within the company' that led to the situations.

If the clients DO KNOW about the internal issues, then I think this person can take some of the clients as references, INSTEAD of the company references, when he is looking to change.

Rgds,

TS

From India, Hyderabad
Dear TS, Bharghavi and Raj Kumar,
thanks for your responses..
TS - am not going to confirm one way or the other since I like keeping conversations here impersonal and fluid.. that way biases are often avoided in responses from experts.. :)
Thank you all... I think he needs to quit this company.. but is really fearing vindictive action and is damn scared.. his salary for 2 months, pending reimbursements (upto 60k) + statutory benefits (7.5 years!) are all going to get held up and he cant afford that.. sadly, the company knows his financial status and is using it against him.
Counselling.. that he wont get in his company.
Regs,

From India, Mumbai
Hello,

I guess this person needs to FIRST make-up his mind & his PRIORITIES.

There's saying in Hindi: "zindagi mein kuch paana hai tho kuch khona hai".

It's upto to each individual to decide what he/she wants/wishes & then prepared to pay the price. It doesn't work if I want something, but YET not ready to pay the needed price for it at the necessary time.

You mentioned that he stands to loose a lot of money--I agree that the amount isn't small, by any standards. However, when it comes to the statutory benefits, I don't think the company has any say or control--like PF, etc--even if they want to play dirty. And even if they did, going legal & spreading the message in the social media is, now-a-days, a BIG deterrent for such companies. More than correcting the wrong(s) done, it's the unwanted publicity that such companies prefer not to handle.

So in a way, the worst-case-scenario would be the loss of ONLY the Salary+Reimbursements part of the dues. It depends on him & him ALONE to decide which is the LESSER EVIL/CONSTRAINT of the available options--since this isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' issue. It depends more on individual priorities @ a given point of time for the person.

Suggest wait for other members to respond too.

Rgds,

TS

From India, Hyderabad
Community Support and Knowledge-base on business, career and organisational prospects and issues - Register and Log In to CiteHR and post your query, download formats and be part of a fostered community of professionals.





Contact Us Privacy Policy Disclaimer Terms Of Service

All rights reserved @ 2024 CiteHR ®

All Copyright And Trademarks in Posts Held By Respective Owners.