Respected Personnel,
A Senior Sales Manager who was on a probation period of 6 months and was not only found to be non performing as per assured terms in attaining his target but did not achieve even a percent of the set target. His non-performance in generating any kind of revenue or business for the company for 2 months was informed to him over mails and phone calls due to which the Management had kept his salary on hold.
This Gentleman stopped attending duty for the reason that his salary was kept on hold on ground of non-performance and above all he has sent a LEGAL NOTICE to the company for his CLAIMS. My Query :
1. Is the Gentleman right of issuing a Legal Notice to company WHILE ON DUTY?
2. Should the company reply his notice by itself or through Legal Advisor?
3. Can he put a claim wherein neither he has resigned nor the company has terminated him?
4. Is the company liable to lien his salary on ground of this legal notice (undated) being served while on duty?
5. Can his notice be treated as MISCONDUCT and FRAUDULENCY while on duty?
From India , Mumbai
A Senior Sales Manager who was on a probation period of 6 months and was not only found to be non performing as per assured terms in attaining his target but did not achieve even a percent of the set target. His non-performance in generating any kind of revenue or business for the company for 2 months was informed to him over mails and phone calls due to which the Management had kept his salary on hold.
This Gentleman stopped attending duty for the reason that his salary was kept on hold on ground of non-performance and above all he has sent a LEGAL NOTICE to the company for his CLAIMS. My Query :
1. Is the Gentleman right of issuing a Legal Notice to company WHILE ON DUTY?
2. Should the company reply his notice by itself or through Legal Advisor?
3. Can he put a claim wherein neither he has resigned nor the company has terminated him?
4. Is the company liable to lien his salary on ground of this legal notice (undated) being served while on duty?
5. Can his notice be treated as MISCONDUCT and FRAUDULENCY while on duty?
From India , Mumbai
Dear Prakash,
It appears that your company has mishandled everything, beginning from recruitment to the removal of Senior Sales Manager (SSM).
If SSM did not perform then some senior person could have called him, understood the reasons for his failure and could have told him to put in papers in the personal meeting. Instead of this, your company informed him through mail and put on hold his salary. Any employee, whether manager or otherwise is due to get salary as long as he/she is on the rolls of your company. Putting on hold the salary for non-performance is gross neglect of the Shops and Establishment Act or Factory Act. Secondly, you are not clear about status of the SSM. Neither it is a resignation nor termination. You cannot run company affairs by straddling between two unknowns.
At this stage, call the SSM to the office, clear his dues and clear the matter. Issue of the legal notice from your side would be retaliation. You have lot of other things to do. I recommend not wasting time in this unwanted activity. Taking on SSM is not your primary concern, your primary concern is providing best product or service and delight your customer.
Lessons from the Incident: - Let us think from management science point of view. The incident speaks of gross failure of your recruitment mechanism. How come candidate gets selected who did not perform even one per cent? Who is responsible for recruiting this type of candidate? When persons, those who handle recruitment, are not trained on "Interview Handling Skills", this type of failure happens. Sooner you train your seniors, including MD, on interview handling the better. While running a business, we incur various hidden cost. Take this as "Cost of Poor Recruitment" and move on. However, if you do not train your seniors on interview handling skills then be assured of recurrence of these costs.
Disclaimer: - Heading of your post is "Experts Advise Required". Advices do not come standalone all the time. Occasionally these are bundled with criticism. This has been happening since time immemorial. Therefore, no complaints would be accepted for critical evaluation of the incident.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
It appears that your company has mishandled everything, beginning from recruitment to the removal of Senior Sales Manager (SSM).
If SSM did not perform then some senior person could have called him, understood the reasons for his failure and could have told him to put in papers in the personal meeting. Instead of this, your company informed him through mail and put on hold his salary. Any employee, whether manager or otherwise is due to get salary as long as he/she is on the rolls of your company. Putting on hold the salary for non-performance is gross neglect of the Shops and Establishment Act or Factory Act. Secondly, you are not clear about status of the SSM. Neither it is a resignation nor termination. You cannot run company affairs by straddling between two unknowns.
At this stage, call the SSM to the office, clear his dues and clear the matter. Issue of the legal notice from your side would be retaliation. You have lot of other things to do. I recommend not wasting time in this unwanted activity. Taking on SSM is not your primary concern, your primary concern is providing best product or service and delight your customer.
Lessons from the Incident: - Let us think from management science point of view. The incident speaks of gross failure of your recruitment mechanism. How come candidate gets selected who did not perform even one per cent? Who is responsible for recruiting this type of candidate? When persons, those who handle recruitment, are not trained on "Interview Handling Skills", this type of failure happens. Sooner you train your seniors, including MD, on interview handling the better. While running a business, we incur various hidden cost. Take this as "Cost of Poor Recruitment" and move on. However, if you do not train your seniors on interview handling skills then be assured of recurrence of these costs.
Disclaimer: - Heading of your post is "Experts Advise Required". Advices do not come standalone all the time. Occasionally these are bundled with criticism. This has been happening since time immemorial. Therefore, no complaints would be accepted for critical evaluation of the incident.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Your official relationship with the Sales Manager commenced with appointment letter.
Read the appointment letter and see clauses regarding performance or nonperformance as the case may be.
This Gentleman stopped attending duty for the reason that his salary was kept on hold on ground of non-performance and above all he has sent a LEGAL NOTICE to the company for his CLAIMS. My Query :(If he is not paid salary how/why is going to work without pay.I am sure there will be a basic salary and incentive scheme.His non achievement of saes target should affect incentive not his basic salary.)
1. Is the Gentleman right of issuing a Legal Notice to company WHILE ON DUTY?
(Nothing wrong in his actions)
2. Should the company reply his notice by itself or through Legal Advisor?(Hire an advocate for replies).
3. Can he put a claim wherein neither he has resigned nor the company has terminated him?
(Pay of employee cannot be stopped)
4. Is the company liable to lien his salary on ground of this legal notice (undated) being served while on duty?-NO
5. Can his notice be treated as MISCONDUCT and FRAUDULENCY while on duty?BiG NO.It is his legal right to take legal action for his pay.
When the Sales Manager performance was seen to be poor was there any review,caution given to him is no misconduct.
You need to sit with him hear him out and then decide about pay,his continued working with the company.
Legal proceedings will only help lawyers become richer.
From India, Pune
Read the appointment letter and see clauses regarding performance or nonperformance as the case may be.
This Gentleman stopped attending duty for the reason that his salary was kept on hold on ground of non-performance and above all he has sent a LEGAL NOTICE to the company for his CLAIMS. My Query :(If he is not paid salary how/why is going to work without pay.I am sure there will be a basic salary and incentive scheme.His non achievement of saes target should affect incentive not his basic salary.)
1. Is the Gentleman right of issuing a Legal Notice to company WHILE ON DUTY?
(Nothing wrong in his actions)
2. Should the company reply his notice by itself or through Legal Advisor?(Hire an advocate for replies).
3. Can he put a claim wherein neither he has resigned nor the company has terminated him?
(Pay of employee cannot be stopped)
4. Is the company liable to lien his salary on ground of this legal notice (undated) being served while on duty?-NO
5. Can his notice be treated as MISCONDUCT and FRAUDULENCY while on duty?BiG NO.It is his legal right to take legal action for his pay.
When the Sales Manager performance was seen to be poor was there any review,caution given to him is no misconduct.
You need to sit with him hear him out and then decide about pay,his continued working with the company.
Legal proceedings will only help lawyers become richer.
From India, Pune
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