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DISCIPLINARY ACTION

DISPENSING DISCIPLE
The management of the Company, through the Head of HR, shall be empowered to initiate disciplinary actions/proceedings against any employee guilty of misconduct and/or violating any Service Rule/s. All employees shall be amenable to discipline and disciplinary actions of the establishment and shall, as such, be answerable for any act/s or omission/s on their part deemed prejudicial to the interest of the Company.
DEGREE OF THE PENALTY
The nature and degree of penalty awarded by the Company shall be governed by the nature and gravity of the offence, the overall track record of the erring employee, any other extenuating or aggravating evidence/s that may exist, and a fair and rational consideration of the explanation/s offered by the employee.
DEFENSE
No penalty shall be imposed on any employee without providing said employee adequate opportunity to defend/justify his/her act. While due cognizance shall be taken of the principles of natural justice in favour of an erring employee, it should be noted that the very act of submission of an explanation in defence of a misconduct shall not automatically absolve the employee of guilt and consequent punishment.
PROCEDURE FOR DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS
  1. The HR Department shall issue to the employee a charge sheet clearly spelling out the charge/s of misconduct/offence and the circumstances/prima facie evidences appearing against him/her. The employee shall be asked to explain his/her misconduct in writing and show cause why penal action should not be initiated against him/her.
  2. The employee shall be given 24-72 hours” time as decided and notified by the HR Department to explain his/her act/s and show cause as stated in clause (i) above.
  3. In the event of the employee unconditionally accepting the charge/s leveled against him/her, appropriate penalty as decided by the HR department shall be imposed through a written correspondence with the employee.
  4. In case the employee does not accept the charge/s spelt out in the Charge Sheet, a domestic enquiry shall be conducted where the employee shall be provided further opportunity of defending himself/herself directly or through a representative co-worker or colleague if so desired by him/her. In the enquiry, the employee shall also be permitted to produce witness/es for his/her defence and to cross-examine any other witness on whose evidence/s the charge/s has/have been established. The management will appoint an Enquiry Officer either from within or outside the Company for the purpose of conducting a fair and impartial enquiry.
  5. A copy of the enquiry proceedings duly signed by the Enquiry Officer and all persons present therein (including witnesses) shall be handed over to the employee as well as the Management”s Representative in the enquiry. The proceedings shall record the statements made at the enquiry and the evidence/s obtained/established.
  6. A report on the enquiry shall be submitted to the management by the Enquiry Officer based on facts and material evidence/s as revealed/substantiated by the enquiry. The report shall not, however, recommended any specific punishment.
  7. An order of punishment decided by the management shall be communicated in writing to the employee concerned. Such order shall briefly outline the offence, the specific nature/duration of the punishment, and the specific Rule under which the punishment is being given.
SUSPENSION
The Head of HR is empowered to suspend a charge-sheeted employee pending a domestic enquiry into his/her offence, or where a criminal case against the employee is pending investigation or trial.
CONDITIONS OF SUSPENSION
In case I, the period of suspension shall not exceed 3 months, during which the employee shall be entitled to a subsistence allowance equivalent to 50% of his/her gross salary. If the enquiry gets prolonged beyond 3 months for no fault of the employee, his/her subsistence allowance shall be raised to 75% of the gross salary.

If, however, the enquiry gets prolonged beyond 3 months for reasons directly attributable to the employee, his/her subsistence allowance shall be reduced to 25% of his/her gross salary.

In case II, the period of suspension shall not exceed 6 months. The subsistence allowance conditions shall remain similar to those in case I.

The subsistence allowance paid in either case shall not be recoverable by the Company if the employee is convicted following enquiry.

The order of suspension shall be in writing under signature of the Head of HR and shall take effect immediately on communication thereof to the employee.

FINDINGS

If on enquiry an employee is not found guilty, he/she shall be exonerated and reinstated in the same position as the one held prior to suspension with full pay for the suspension period less the subsistence allowance already paid.

If the employee is found guilty, punishment shall be given in any of the following forms, or in any combination thereof, depending on the factors enumerated in Para 2 of this section:

  1. Warning or censuring.
  2. Recovery of the whole or part of any pecuniary loss caused to the Company by the employee as a result of the misconduct.
  3. Withholding of annual increment.
  4. Demotion or reduction in rank with commensurate loss of pay.
  5. Suspension from employment without pay by way of punishment for a period not exceeding 7 days (i.e. punitive suspension).
  6. Termination of employment with/out notice, as deemed necessary.? N.B. Punishment shall be commensurate with the gravity of the offence/s and factors listed in Para (b) of this section. In case a dismissal order from the Management is challenged by the employee concerned in a Court of Law and a ruling is passed in favour of the employee, the management will enjoy the prerogative of appeal in a higher Court.
  7. In exceptional circumstances where the offence committed by an employee is of a criminal nature or of any other extremely serious nature, the Company can terminate his/her service forthwith on the basis of firsthand evidence/s without an enquiry. In such case/s, the termination order shall record the reasons warranting such action. It shall be the management”s prerogative to determine and define the parameters of an exceptional circumstance where an enquiry may be totally dispensed with.
  8. An employee whose service is terminated under clause (vii) above shall not be entitled to any notice or notice pay (in lieu of notice) from the Company.
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COMMON PROCEEDINGS
Where two or more employees are concerned in the same case, the HR Department may direct common proceedings to be initiated against all or some of them, and for this purpose a common Enquiry Officer may be appointed to conduct the proceedings.

Where different charges are framed against the same employee at different points of time, the same Enquiry Officer in the common proceedings may enquire into any/all the charges.