Have An Unruly employee: Actions Employer is authorized to Take Against Employee Misconduct:

Have An Unruly employee: Actions Employer is authorized to Take Against Employee Misconduct:

Every organisation has some issue with employee’s conducts. Employer can face harsh action in case they terminate the employee without proper procedure. To mitigate these conditions the following is a legal analysis of the issue.

What is Misconduct?

Under Order 22, any of the following acts or omissions on the part of a workman shall amount to misconduct:-

(a) Willful insubordination or disobedience, whether or not in combination with another, of any lawful and reasonable order of superior;

(b) Going on an illegal strike or abetting, inciting, instigating or acting in furtherance thereof;

(c) Willful slowing down in performance of work, or abetment or instigation thereof.

(d) Theft, fraud, or dishonesty in connection with the employer’s business or property: of another workman within the premises of the establishment;

(e) Taking or giving bribes or any illegal gratification;

(f) Habitual absence without leave or absence without leave for more than ten consecutive days or overstaying the sanctioned leave without sufficient grounds or proper or satisfactory explanation;

(g) Late attendance on not less than four occasions within a month;

(h) Habitual breach of any Standing Order or any law applicable to the establishment or any rules made there under;

(i) Collection without the permission of the Manager of any money within the premises of the establishment except as sanctioned by any law for the time being in force;

(j) Engaging in trade within the premises of the establishment;

(k) Drunkenness, riotous, disorderly or indecent behavior on the premises of the establishment.

(l)Commission of any act subversive of discipline or good behavior on the premises of the establishment;

(m)Habitual neglect of work, or gross or habitual negligence;

(n)Habitual breach of any rules or instruction for the maintenance and running of any department, or the maintenance of the cleanliness of any portion of the establishment;

(o)Habitual commission of any act or omission for which a fine may be imposed under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936;

(p)Canvassing for union membership, or the collection of union dues within the premises of the establishment except in accordance with any law or with the permission of the Manager;

(q)Willful damage to work in process or to any property of the establishment;

(r) holding meeting inside the premises of the establishment without the previous permission of the Manager or except in accordance with the provisions of any law for the time being in force;

(s)Disclosing to any unauthorized person any information in regard to the processes of the establishment which may come into the possession of the workman in the course of his work;

 (t)Gambling within the premises of the establishment;

(u)Smoking or spitting on the premises of the establishment where it is prohibited by the employer;

(v)Failure to observe safety instructions notified by the employer or interference with any safety device or equipment installed within the establishment;

(w)distributing or exhibiting within the premises of the establishment hand-bills, pamphlets, posters, and such other things or causing to be displayed by means of signs or writing or other visible representation on any matter without previous sanction of the Manager’

(x)Refusal to accept a charge-sheet, order or other communication served in accordance with this Standing Order;

(y)Unauthorized possession of any lethal weapon in the establishment

(z)Sexual harassment which includes unwelcome sexual determined behavior (whether directly or by implication) such as:-

(i) Physical contact and advances; or

(ii) A demand or request for sexual favors; or

(iii) Sexually colored remarks; or

(iv)Showing pornography; or

(v)Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature

Explanation:-No act of misconduct which is committed on less than three occasions within a space of one year shall be treated as “habitual”.

Actions That Can Be Initiated:

(1) A workman guilty of misconduct may be,-

            (a)      Warned or censured, or

            (b)      Fined subject to and in accordance with the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, or

            (c)      suspended by an order in writing signed by the Manager for a period not exceeding four days, or

            (d)      Dismissed without notice.     

(2)  No order under sub-clause (b) of clause (1) shall be made unless the workman concerned has been informed in writing of the alleged misconduct or given an opportunity to explain the circumstances allege against him.

(3)  No order of dismissal under sub-clause (d) of clause (1) shall be made except after holding an enquiry against the workman concerned in respect of the alleged misconduct in the manner set forth in clause (4).

(4)  A workman against whom an inquiry is proposed to be held shall be given a charge-sheet clearly setting forth the circumstances appearing against him and requiring his explanation. He shall be permitted to appear himself for defending him or shall be permitted to be defended by a workman working in the same department as him or by any office-bearer of a trade union of which he is a member. Except for reasons to be recorded in writing by the officer holding the inquiry, the workman shall be permitted to produce witness in his defense and cross-examine any witness on whose evidence the charges rest. A concise summary of the evidence led on either side or the workman’s plea shall be recorded. All proceedings of the inquiry shall be conducted in English, Hindi or State Language according to the choice of the workman concerned and the person defending him.

The inquiry shall be completed within a period of three months: Provided that the period of three months may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, be extended to such further period as may be deemed necessary by the enquiry officer.