Hi There,
I am wondering if an Employee be terminated if she doesnot give prior notice and moves overseas on her own and sends in a resignation letter.
According to me, it is just recklessness towards work/ anauthorised absence to work and taking client project/support for granted.
Unfortunately i dont have any supporting policy that underlines for termination if ran overseas.
But I find that this recklessness should not be left unpunished since I dont run an NGO and try to just be good and nice to everyone.
pls. share your views on this.
Lets analyse
From India, Madras
41I am wondering if an Employee be terminated if she doesnot give prior notice and moves overseas on her own and sends in a resignation letter.
According to me, it is just recklessness towards work/ anauthorised absence to work and taking client project/support for granted.
Unfortunately i dont have any supporting policy that underlines for termination if ran overseas.
But I find that this recklessness should not be left unpunished since I dont run an NGO and try to just be good and nice to everyone.
pls. share your views on this.
Lets analyse
From India, Madras
Dear Priya,
Since you wish to analyse the case, it could be as below:
a) This is the case of "abandonment of employment". These kind of cases happen everywhere, yours is no exception. In professional companies before appointment, they ask for employment certificate from the previous employer. In the employee's case her future employer did not do that. What we can do for this?
b) You may conduct the domestic enquiry. If she abstains from the enquiry, then you may terminate her. However, this is only fulfilment of the legal requirement, nothing else.
c) Coming to organisation's culture standpoint. The case clearly shows that she was not engaged with the organisation or her work itself. Given a chance and she flew abroad. You or her manager could have picked clues from her behaviour or vibes and could have taken appropriate action.
d) How big is your organisation? What is the nature of your industry? Are the employees satisfied with their work or company? Is it that they are working because they do not have alternate means of employment? I recommend you conducting "Employee Satisfaction Survey" (ESS). Possibly it may spill some sticky beans.
e) There are two ways of looking at this incident. One is to remember famous proverb "single swallow does not make summer" and console one's mind. Another is to take this case as tip of the iceberg or the sign of the employee discontent that has been brewing all along. Which option to choose, that I leave it to you.
Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Since you wish to analyse the case, it could be as below:
a) This is the case of "abandonment of employment". These kind of cases happen everywhere, yours is no exception. In professional companies before appointment, they ask for employment certificate from the previous employer. In the employee's case her future employer did not do that. What we can do for this?
b) You may conduct the domestic enquiry. If she abstains from the enquiry, then you may terminate her. However, this is only fulfilment of the legal requirement, nothing else.
c) Coming to organisation's culture standpoint. The case clearly shows that she was not engaged with the organisation or her work itself. Given a chance and she flew abroad. You or her manager could have picked clues from her behaviour or vibes and could have taken appropriate action.
d) How big is your organisation? What is the nature of your industry? Are the employees satisfied with their work or company? Is it that they are working because they do not have alternate means of employment? I recommend you conducting "Employee Satisfaction Survey" (ESS). Possibly it may spill some sticky beans.
e) There are two ways of looking at this incident. One is to remember famous proverb "single swallow does not make summer" and console one's mind. Another is to take this case as tip of the iceberg or the sign of the employee discontent that has been brewing all along. Which option to choose, that I leave it to you.
Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Hello Priyaranganathan,
Do you have ANY Termination Policy--forget for a moment about the employee 'running away' abroad?
Pl share what it says.
Reg the employee vanishing--as long as you have a Termination Policy in-place, how does it matter whether the employee 'ran away' somewhere within India or overseas? Usually, there's NO such demarcation.
Now coming to 'reason(s)' why the employee didn't inform anyone--suggest look into IF there were issues/situations that led her to do it in the first place [something related to company policies and/or practices and/or attitude issues with her superiors]. Many times, the cause(s) TEND to be within the company while the focus 'seems' to be on the employee's action(s)--which COULD have been a reaction/response rather than the 'action' per se.
That is NOT to say that there won't be situations which you mentioned ['taking client project/support for granted']--it's just that one needs to be sure that this indeed was the reason, before any subsequent action from the employer-end is initiated.
Hope you get the point.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
Do you have ANY Termination Policy--forget for a moment about the employee 'running away' abroad?
Pl share what it says.
Reg the employee vanishing--as long as you have a Termination Policy in-place, how does it matter whether the employee 'ran away' somewhere within India or overseas? Usually, there's NO such demarcation.
Now coming to 'reason(s)' why the employee didn't inform anyone--suggest look into IF there were issues/situations that led her to do it in the first place [something related to company policies and/or practices and/or attitude issues with her superiors]. Many times, the cause(s) TEND to be within the company while the focus 'seems' to be on the employee's action(s)--which COULD have been a reaction/response rather than the 'action' per se.
That is NOT to say that there won't be situations which you mentioned ['taking client project/support for granted']--it's just that one needs to be sure that this indeed was the reason, before any subsequent action from the employer-end is initiated.
Hope you get the point.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
If the absconding employee has resigned where is the question of enquiry.Accept the resignation subject to terms of employment.Why wasting time,energy and money for enquiry. VARGHESE MATHEW
From India, Thiruvananthapuram
From India, Thiruvananthapuram
Dear Priya/friends,
There are a few pertinent issues for treating her termination vs.resignation. This kind of abandonment is nothing new in India. Before arriving at "what to do next" better be clear on these issues:
I don't thing "No show" at the work place is out of any genuine recklessness, it must be well thought out plan to go abroad for a job there, most likely. We come across many instances like this. Its irrelevant for taking action whether the employee is in India or gone overseas. It's just she is an absentee. This is just because- you need not scout around for the proof for her having gone overseas and there is no justifying reason like sickness etc for her silence and absenteeism and now the resignation came. If you have no policy of your own nothing stops you to take action what is necessary in the circumstances, be it either a business or a NGO, after all she has been an employee and you R the employer. Now consider these-.
1. She was absenting for how many days & what is the action by the Estt. on the absenteeism. No action so far ? Any memo was issued to the last known address ?
2. What is the conclusion on the resignation ? What is the terms & conditions of the Apptt. says about absenteeism and Notice period in case of resignation. As an Estt. you got a duty to perform, first on the absenteeism. Much would depend on your mindset on the first issue as what to do about the second question on Resignation.
kumar.s.
From India, Bangalore
There are a few pertinent issues for treating her termination vs.resignation. This kind of abandonment is nothing new in India. Before arriving at "what to do next" better be clear on these issues:
I don't thing "No show" at the work place is out of any genuine recklessness, it must be well thought out plan to go abroad for a job there, most likely. We come across many instances like this. Its irrelevant for taking action whether the employee is in India or gone overseas. It's just she is an absentee. This is just because- you need not scout around for the proof for her having gone overseas and there is no justifying reason like sickness etc for her silence and absenteeism and now the resignation came. If you have no policy of your own nothing stops you to take action what is necessary in the circumstances, be it either a business or a NGO, after all she has been an employee and you R the employer. Now consider these-.
1. She was absenting for how many days & what is the action by the Estt. on the absenteeism. No action so far ? Any memo was issued to the last known address ?
2. What is the conclusion on the resignation ? What is the terms & conditions of the Apptt. says about absenteeism and Notice period in case of resignation. As an Estt. you got a duty to perform, first on the absenteeism. Much would depend on your mindset on the first issue as what to do about the second question on Resignation.
kumar.s.
From India, Bangalore
Hie
Employment relationship are terminated in a various number of ways. Resignation is one of them and is a unilateral decision that the employee makes without seeking the consensus of the employer. An employee does not need to apply to be granted permission by the employer to resign. When resigning, the employee is expected to give the employer the appropriate notice of his or her intention to resign. With reference to your case it seems the employee did not give you the requisite notice period and as such you simply need to accept the resignation with penalty. This means you can recover cash equivalent to the appropriate notice you should have been given. You can only recover this cash from the terminal benefits the employee was supposed to get on termination.
unfortunately, i am responding to your query from Zimbabwe. i really do not know the labour laws of your land. But generally thats the way siyuations of that nature are handled.
From Zimbabwe
Employment relationship are terminated in a various number of ways. Resignation is one of them and is a unilateral decision that the employee makes without seeking the consensus of the employer. An employee does not need to apply to be granted permission by the employer to resign. When resigning, the employee is expected to give the employer the appropriate notice of his or her intention to resign. With reference to your case it seems the employee did not give you the requisite notice period and as such you simply need to accept the resignation with penalty. This means you can recover cash equivalent to the appropriate notice you should have been given. You can only recover this cash from the terminal benefits the employee was supposed to get on termination.
unfortunately, i am responding to your query from Zimbabwe. i really do not know the labour laws of your land. But generally thats the way siyuations of that nature are handled.
From Zimbabwe
Dear Priya,
Many a times we see such 'Public Notices' in the newspapers , mostly given by Infotech firms which says that such and such employee who was sent abroad has abstained from work and that he/she is not reporting to the company.That ,this is a violation of terms of employment and legal proceedings are being initiated against the employee......I suggest that you immediately start a system whereby an employee being sent on a foreign assignment signs a bond with the company promising to pay the entire money spent by the company on him/her for such posting.This shall , to some extent ,act as a detterent for a repeat of this incident.
s.k.limaye/mba
From India, New Delhi
Many a times we see such 'Public Notices' in the newspapers , mostly given by Infotech firms which says that such and such employee who was sent abroad has abstained from work and that he/she is not reporting to the company.That ,this is a violation of terms of employment and legal proceedings are being initiated against the employee......I suggest that you immediately start a system whereby an employee being sent on a foreign assignment signs a bond with the company promising to pay the entire money spent by the company on him/her for such posting.This shall , to some extent ,act as a detterent for a repeat of this incident.
s.k.limaye/mba
From India, New Delhi
Hi Priya,
You can not terminate an employee after she resigns. Resignation supersedes termination. Being an NGO you cannot show your anger for what has happened. What do you achieve by terminating, it only aggravate situation which may lead to legal complications. With resignation, employer and employee relationship comes to an end. Concentrate with you work.
From India, Bangalore
You can not terminate an employee after she resigns. Resignation supersedes termination. Being an NGO you cannot show your anger for what has happened. What do you achieve by terminating, it only aggravate situation which may lead to legal complications. With resignation, employer and employee relationship comes to an end. Concentrate with you work.
From India, Bangalore
Dear Priya,
Same situation happened in our company last Wednesday. He was on managerial level person and he made his department. And I should say that just because of our company policies and strict rules he ran away.
His performance during his last 1 year was not very impressive but he had experience of same field of more than 10 years and somehow he developed his department and worked well.
Anyway, same thing happened, he left the company car outside the office building, and made the check out with his family. He was supposed to go on official trip but he just took another flight with his family to his home country.
So, now what can we do? he was supposed to pay and return many things back to company that he didn't return or clear his dues.
Now we can't do anything, we are just hopeless. Here in Saudi Arabia, one thing is good that you may ban that person for 5 years if he does something like he did it.
So nowadays we are just calculating that how much he owed and then we will file the case in local court.
We tried to contact his home country contact numbers but phones were switched off.
I think, we are the company and we have to move on. We can't stop just because of one person.
From Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
Same situation happened in our company last Wednesday. He was on managerial level person and he made his department. And I should say that just because of our company policies and strict rules he ran away.
His performance during his last 1 year was not very impressive but he had experience of same field of more than 10 years and somehow he developed his department and worked well.
Anyway, same thing happened, he left the company car outside the office building, and made the check out with his family. He was supposed to go on official trip but he just took another flight with his family to his home country.
So, now what can we do? he was supposed to pay and return many things back to company that he didn't return or clear his dues.
Now we can't do anything, we are just hopeless. Here in Saudi Arabia, one thing is good that you may ban that person for 5 years if he does something like he did it.
So nowadays we are just calculating that how much he owed and then we will file the case in local court.
We tried to contact his home country contact numbers but phones were switched off.
I think, we are the company and we have to move on. We can't stop just because of one person.
From Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
Dear Ms. Priya,
Since the employee sent his resignation, deal with it as per company policy for separating the employee from the services of the company. Then proceed to recover the dues to the company from the terminal dues of the employee. If the employee still owes, send a demand notice to the employee at his known address and if it does not work, report the matter to the embassy/High Commission of India in that country regarding abandonment of service by the person and seeking deportation/recovery of money (this will be the extreme step).
Secondly, as suggested by Mr. Dinesh Divekar, please do the ESS and have a well laid down and conducive company policy for employee engagement and commitment.
Separation in the form of prior notice, abandonment, death, etc. is part of game and has to be dealt with based on the circumstances. Mere emotion will not work.
With best wishes,
From India, Mumbai
Since the employee sent his resignation, deal with it as per company policy for separating the employee from the services of the company. Then proceed to recover the dues to the company from the terminal dues of the employee. If the employee still owes, send a demand notice to the employee at his known address and if it does not work, report the matter to the embassy/High Commission of India in that country regarding abandonment of service by the person and seeking deportation/recovery of money (this will be the extreme step).
Secondly, as suggested by Mr. Dinesh Divekar, please do the ESS and have a well laid down and conducive company policy for employee engagement and commitment.
Separation in the form of prior notice, abandonment, death, etc. is part of game and has to be dealt with based on the circumstances. Mere emotion will not work.
With best wishes,
From India, Mumbai
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Termination-emp loyment_563.pdf
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