Dear All,
I recently had an issue where my account manager wrote an email degrading my personal reputation in the company. I am escalating the matter to the HR team, but I am uncertain if I will receive any justice. Are there any laws that protect employees from such harassment, and can I take legal action against the manager or the company? I would appreciate serious suggestions on this matter.
Regards,
Sandeep Tiwari
From United Kingdom, Cambridge
6I recently had an issue where my account manager wrote an email degrading my personal reputation in the company. I am escalating the matter to the HR team, but I am uncertain if I will receive any justice. Are there any laws that protect employees from such harassment, and can I take legal action against the manager or the company? I would appreciate serious suggestions on this matter.
Regards,
Sandeep Tiwari
From United Kingdom, Cambridge
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Dear Sandeep,
At the workplace, we must maintain professionalism. If a manager sends you a derogatory email that degrades your personal reputation, it is most unfortunate. However, filing a lawsuit is at too early a stage. I recommend that you follow the procedure. However, before recommending a solution, we need to know the type of industry you work in, your designation, the number of persons that report to you, and whether your company has approved Standing Orders.
While you may find it difficult to explain the contents of the email, it is important for us to know whether the contents degraded your personal reputation. Occasionally, in a fit of anger, managers may send an email. Was it a case of a momentary lapse of judgment? To whom was the email sent, on what subject was it sent, and why did personal reputation come into the picture in the official contents of the email? Is it really a degradation of your reputation, or is it perception?
As a first step, you may submit an application to HR with a printout attached to your application. Submission of a hard copy is preferred over a soft copy. Keep a duplicate copy signed by HR with you. This is called a grievance by a junior employee against the manager. Give the heading of your application as "Grievance Against __________ (designation of the manager)" or "Grievance Against the Reporting Authority."
Upon receipt of your application, your HR will conduct an investigation. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation or with the punishment awarded to the defaulting manager, you may submit a second application to the highest authority of your company requesting a review.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, then you need to take the matter outside of your company. Find out the labor office in your area. Approach the Labor Officer (LO) and explain your problem in sequence. Carry with you evidence of all types, including proof that you are an employee of your company. Upon hearing your complaint, the LO might issue a letter to your company. This is known as an industrial dispute. On a specified day, he will call both parties, listen to viewpoints from both sides, and give his verdict. If you are not satisfied with the verdict, you may then send a notice from a lawyer. Your lawyer will provide you with further guidance.
Final Comments: While I have outlined the procedure for settling the grievance above, I recommend settling the matter without taking it too far. It could affect your career. Taking on a manager could prove risky. Managers are representatives of the management. Incensed by your application, your management might retaliate in some way. Therefore, consider the support that your manager receives from the top.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
At the workplace, we must maintain professionalism. If a manager sends you a derogatory email that degrades your personal reputation, it is most unfortunate. However, filing a lawsuit is at too early a stage. I recommend that you follow the procedure. However, before recommending a solution, we need to know the type of industry you work in, your designation, the number of persons that report to you, and whether your company has approved Standing Orders.
While you may find it difficult to explain the contents of the email, it is important for us to know whether the contents degraded your personal reputation. Occasionally, in a fit of anger, managers may send an email. Was it a case of a momentary lapse of judgment? To whom was the email sent, on what subject was it sent, and why did personal reputation come into the picture in the official contents of the email? Is it really a degradation of your reputation, or is it perception?
As a first step, you may submit an application to HR with a printout attached to your application. Submission of a hard copy is preferred over a soft copy. Keep a duplicate copy signed by HR with you. This is called a grievance by a junior employee against the manager. Give the heading of your application as "Grievance Against __________ (designation of the manager)" or "Grievance Against the Reporting Authority."
Upon receipt of your application, your HR will conduct an investigation. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation or with the punishment awarded to the defaulting manager, you may submit a second application to the highest authority of your company requesting a review.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, then you need to take the matter outside of your company. Find out the labor office in your area. Approach the Labor Officer (LO) and explain your problem in sequence. Carry with you evidence of all types, including proof that you are an employee of your company. Upon hearing your complaint, the LO might issue a letter to your company. This is known as an industrial dispute. On a specified day, he will call both parties, listen to viewpoints from both sides, and give his verdict. If you are not satisfied with the verdict, you may then send a notice from a lawyer. Your lawyer will provide you with further guidance.
Final Comments: While I have outlined the procedure for settling the grievance above, I recommend settling the matter without taking it too far. It could affect your career. Taking on a manager could prove risky. Managers are representatives of the management. Incensed by your application, your management might retaliate in some way. Therefore, consider the support that your manager receives from the top.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
Dear Sandeep,
You may please take cognizance of the following:
Firstly, sending mail in a derogatory manner in an organization is uncalled for; he has exceeded his limits.
You can take up the matter with the Vigilance Department/Employee Relations/Grievance cell, whichever is applicable in your company. They will conduct an inquiry and submit the report.
In case the Accounts Manager is at fault, action against him will definitely be taken by the Management to ensure that such incidents do not occur again.
It is too early to proceed with legal action against the said official or the company.
Please remain calm and follow the company rules and procedures. After all, everybody is a human being, and to err is human; to forgive a person is truly a great quality.
All the best.
From India, Bangalore
You may please take cognizance of the following:
Firstly, sending mail in a derogatory manner in an organization is uncalled for; he has exceeded his limits.
You can take up the matter with the Vigilance Department/Employee Relations/Grievance cell, whichever is applicable in your company. They will conduct an inquiry and submit the report.
In case the Accounts Manager is at fault, action against him will definitely be taken by the Management to ensure that such incidents do not occur again.
It is too early to proceed with legal action against the said official or the company.
Please remain calm and follow the company rules and procedures. After all, everybody is a human being, and to err is human; to forgive a person is truly a great quality.
All the best.
From India, Bangalore
email are not recognized as legal document by court/labor office/govt of India. Tc
From India, Bangalore
From India, Bangalore
First thing is to try to sort out the matter within the company. Put up a written complaint to management and ask them to inquire into the matter of damaging email. Is the email sent to you or to many others? What are the wordings of the email? Civil and criminal laws provide you protection. But this case is not fit to go to court and should be settled in-house only. (Prima facie opinion)
From India, Pune
From India, Pune
Thanks Dinesh for the responce. As suggested by you, currently the matter is with HR and they are discussing this with cluster head. I’ll have a meeting with Clustor head very soon to discuss the matter along with HR team.
Just to brief a bit about myself and the matter, I am into IT, Currently as a test manager, onsite. I was heading the delivery in SAP competency for my company for UK and Ireland region before I moved to onsite the current role I am doing. There was a testing new bidding for a testing project coming up in US and since company didn’t had anyone suitable to travel for project defense, I was asked to travel. When asked, I told testing competency to get in touch with account manager as I report to him and get buying from him. Competency did the same and I got a call from my account manager to discuss about it. Then, I received a mail from cluster head to travel as he is the one who has discussed with my manager. I took his mail as approval and travelled. I have done arrangements with client at onsite for the work which will be stopped during my absence and shared the responsibility with other team mates. Up on my return, my account manager started claiming that he was not aware about the trip and why I travelled and my trip has bought bad rapport with customer. He gave me all the stories which he could have given which where just cooked up stories. When I went and checked with customer they were cool about it and have extended my contract also. Because of all this episode, my account manager thought that I don’t respect seniors and he wrote a nasty mail to me keeping all the higher authorities as well as HR in loop. When I discussed the same with HR team, They also agreed that the language used is harsh and unofficial. So the matter is up for discussion. In short, he is begging for the respect just because he is higher in hierarchy and don’t believe in hierarchy in service industry for respect.
This episode has made me dull for about a week and resulted in bad week with my family and other work collegues. This is spoiling my personal as well as professional image and as far as I understand, no one in the organization, Whatever is the position, has the right to humiliate you in public through any medium. I know I am fighting a tough war where I’ll not gain much other than my satisfaction, but I’ll still be happy to gain the satisfaction and loosing this job. All I asked HR is either an apology mail from my manager on top of the same mail which he wrote or convience me that it was my fault in the entire episode.
I am waiting for HR to response and am ready to go to court also against company if I am not getting what I deserve. I just want to know if we can take this to court and fight against company. This will be case against the company as a whole or just the manager. Which court I can appear for such things.
I hope I clarified myself and if you think you should see the mail to decide whether it is humiliating or not, I can forward that too.
Regards,
Sandeep Tiwari
From United Kingdom, Cambridge
Just to brief a bit about myself and the matter, I am into IT, Currently as a test manager, onsite. I was heading the delivery in SAP competency for my company for UK and Ireland region before I moved to onsite the current role I am doing. There was a testing new bidding for a testing project coming up in US and since company didn’t had anyone suitable to travel for project defense, I was asked to travel. When asked, I told testing competency to get in touch with account manager as I report to him and get buying from him. Competency did the same and I got a call from my account manager to discuss about it. Then, I received a mail from cluster head to travel as he is the one who has discussed with my manager. I took his mail as approval and travelled. I have done arrangements with client at onsite for the work which will be stopped during my absence and shared the responsibility with other team mates. Up on my return, my account manager started claiming that he was not aware about the trip and why I travelled and my trip has bought bad rapport with customer. He gave me all the stories which he could have given which where just cooked up stories. When I went and checked with customer they were cool about it and have extended my contract also. Because of all this episode, my account manager thought that I don’t respect seniors and he wrote a nasty mail to me keeping all the higher authorities as well as HR in loop. When I discussed the same with HR team, They also agreed that the language used is harsh and unofficial. So the matter is up for discussion. In short, he is begging for the respect just because he is higher in hierarchy and don’t believe in hierarchy in service industry for respect.
This episode has made me dull for about a week and resulted in bad week with my family and other work collegues. This is spoiling my personal as well as professional image and as far as I understand, no one in the organization, Whatever is the position, has the right to humiliate you in public through any medium. I know I am fighting a tough war where I’ll not gain much other than my satisfaction, but I’ll still be happy to gain the satisfaction and loosing this job. All I asked HR is either an apology mail from my manager on top of the same mail which he wrote or convience me that it was my fault in the entire episode.
I am waiting for HR to response and am ready to go to court also against company if I am not getting what I deserve. I just want to know if we can take this to court and fight against company. This will be case against the company as a whole or just the manager. Which court I can appear for such things.
I hope I clarified myself and if you think you should see the mail to decide whether it is humiliating or not, I can forward that too.
Regards,
Sandeep Tiwari
From United Kingdom, Cambridge
My advice again is to sort out such matters in-house. Court is no paradise. You will face delays, "tareek pe tareek," and have to relive this experience for long periods of time. Insist that HR remedies the matter and move on in life. I can understand the anger and humiliation, but the remedy is not a legal battle.
From India, Pune
From India, Pune
Dear Sandeep,
I welcome you to CiteHR.com!
I presume you joined us to seek a remedy for your problem. I have gone through the thread.
No doubt, your ego is bruised, and you are feeling hurt. Do you know there are places in India where people feel hurt and humiliated if you do not wish them or acknowledge their presence? Sometimes, they become so aggressive they might even attack or hurt you physically. I am sure you must be aware of such places, which are so well highlighted in Bollywood movies! Are you one of such people?
"He wrote a nasty email to me keeping all the higher authorities as well as HR in the loop," and this was a humiliation for you! Your self-respect and self-image are so weak and fragile that you felt humiliated and had a strained relationship with family and friends.
Now, you want to teach him a lesson, you are looking for revenge! All because of an email that your senior sent. To repeat:
"He wrote a nasty email to me keeping all the higher authorities as well as HR in the loop."
So what does this episode in your flourishing career depict about you as a person? Your education, temperament, personality? Your MATURITY to handle criticism and others' opinions, however erroneous their opinion may be? Please think it over again.
Just a critical email CONSTITUTES harassment? That email was not obscene, nor are you a female worker in a company who is protected by the "Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace."
My humble suggestion would be to simply ignore such small incidents. These keep happening frequently in one's life and career. However good and hardworking you are, you can NOT STILL MAKE everyone love you or like you.
It would give you much more and richer dividends if you focus on your tasks instead of making everyone, including yourself, unhappy, sorrowful, and gloomy by focusing on an unsavory email sent by one of your seniors. If you are REALLY THAT GOOD, then instead of getting affected, YOU SHOULD SHOW him that his nasty email doesn't affect your spirits and motivation, nor does it have any value except revealing his own nastiness.
Warm regards.
From India, Delhi
I welcome you to CiteHR.com!
I presume you joined us to seek a remedy for your problem. I have gone through the thread.
No doubt, your ego is bruised, and you are feeling hurt. Do you know there are places in India where people feel hurt and humiliated if you do not wish them or acknowledge their presence? Sometimes, they become so aggressive they might even attack or hurt you physically. I am sure you must be aware of such places, which are so well highlighted in Bollywood movies! Are you one of such people?
"He wrote a nasty email to me keeping all the higher authorities as well as HR in the loop," and this was a humiliation for you! Your self-respect and self-image are so weak and fragile that you felt humiliated and had a strained relationship with family and friends.
Now, you want to teach him a lesson, you are looking for revenge! All because of an email that your senior sent. To repeat:
"He wrote a nasty email to me keeping all the higher authorities as well as HR in the loop."
So what does this episode in your flourishing career depict about you as a person? Your education, temperament, personality? Your MATURITY to handle criticism and others' opinions, however erroneous their opinion may be? Please think it over again.
Just a critical email CONSTITUTES harassment? That email was not obscene, nor are you a female worker in a company who is protected by the "Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace."
My humble suggestion would be to simply ignore such small incidents. These keep happening frequently in one's life and career. However good and hardworking you are, you can NOT STILL MAKE everyone love you or like you.
It would give you much more and richer dividends if you focus on your tasks instead of making everyone, including yourself, unhappy, sorrowful, and gloomy by focusing on an unsavory email sent by one of your seniors. If you are REALLY THAT GOOD, then instead of getting affected, YOU SHOULD SHOW him that his nasty email doesn't affect your spirits and motivation, nor does it have any value except revealing his own nastiness.
Warm regards.
From India, Delhi
Raj Kumar,
Extremely well-written and conveys the whole solution to nasty emails or verbal arguments. Ego should not be so fragile. No wonder our judicial system is so overwhelmed with cases that take decades to resolve. One email, however nasty, should not derail your composure and equanimity. Give a detailed reply to the Accounts Manager, keeping all other addressees in the loop. This is my prima facie opinion on the topic.
From India, Pune
Extremely well-written and conveys the whole solution to nasty emails or verbal arguments. Ego should not be so fragile. No wonder our judicial system is so overwhelmed with cases that take decades to resolve. One email, however nasty, should not derail your composure and equanimity. Give a detailed reply to the Accounts Manager, keeping all other addressees in the loop. This is my prima facie opinion on the topic.
From India, Pune
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Sexual-Harassme nt-at-Workplace -Rules.pdf