Disciplinary Procedure

Disciplinary Procedure

Disciplinary procedure in Indian industries comprise of following stages

Issuing a letter of charge to the employee calling upon him for explanation: When the management of the establishment comes to the conclusion that an act of misconduct committed by an employee warrants disciplinary action, the concerned employee should be issued a charge sheet .The charge sheet should indicate the charges of indiscipline or misconduct clearly and precisely. Explanation should also be called from the delinquent employee and for that sufficient time should be given to the employee. Sending of the charge sheet either by personally or by post.

Consideration of explanation: When the delinquent employee admits in an unqualified manner, about his misconduct, there is no need for conducting any enquiry further. Besides when the employer is satisfied with the explanation given by the delinquent action. On the contrary management is not satisfied with the employee’s explanation, there is a need for serving show-cause notice.

Show-cause notice: In the show cause notice, the employer provides another chance to the employee to explain his conduct and rebut the charges made against him. This notice is issued by the manager, who decides to punish the employee. Besides, a notice of enquiry sent to the employee and this should indicate clearly the name of the enquiring officer, time, date and place of enquiry into the misconduct of the employee.

Holding of a Full-fledged enquiry:

The enquiry should be conformity with the principles of natural justice, that is, delinquent employee must be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard. The enquiry officer should record the findings in the process of an enquiry. He may also suggest the nature of disciplinary action to be taken.

Considering the Enquiry Proceedings and Findings and Making Final Order of Punishment: When the misconduct of an employee is proved , the manager may take disciplinary action against him. While doing so he may give consideration to the employee’s previous record, precedents effects of this action on other employees etc. have to be considered. No inherent right to appeal has been provided unless the law provides it. In case the employee- the enquiry not proper and action unjustified. He must be given a chance to make an appeal.

Follow-up: After taking disciplinary action, there should be proper follow-up. The disciplinary action should not make the employee repeat his mistake. And the consequences of the implementation of disciplinary action should be noted and taken care of.

Types of punishment

Different types of punishments resulting from various types of omissions or misconduct are as follows:

1. Oral warnings: Whenever an employee commits minor omissions, he may be given oral warning by the superior concerned. In such cases superior should enlighten the employee as to prevent their recurrence.

2. Written warnings: whenever oral warnings fails to achieve the desired behavior on the part of the employee, written warnings, which are the first formal state of progressive discipline, may be resorted to. Written warnings are also referred to as ‘pink slips’ which indicate that certain rights would be withdrawn incase the employee continues his misconduct or omission.

3. Loss of privileges and fines: if an employee leaves the work without taking permission of the superior, he may not be allowed to select the good tools and machines for himself to move freely in the company. If the contract of employment provides for imposition by the employee on the delinquent employee, the employer may resort to them.

4. Punitive suspension: under punitive suspension, the employer prohibits the employee from performing the tasks assigned to him and the wages are withheld or withdrawn during the period of such prohibition.

5. Withholding of increment: There is a major punishment under this method the employer withholds the annual increment of the delinquent employee in a graded scale.

6. Demotion: under this type, the employee is reduced to a lower grade enjoyed by him earlier. Normally this method is resorted to when an employee is promoted mistake and he is not able to perform the job.

7. Termination: The employees service is terminated in the following forms a) discharge implicate b) discharge c) dismissal.

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

Meaning/Definitions

The concept ‘grievance’ has been defined in several ways by different authorities. Some of the definitions are as follows:

Beach defines a grievance as “any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with one’s employment situation that is brought to the notice of the management” , whereas Flippo indicates the grievance as “a type of discontent which must always be expressed . A grievance is usually more formal in character than a complaint. . It can be valid or ridiculous, and must grow out of something connected with company operations or policy. It must involve an interpretation or application of the provisions of the labour contract”.

Jucius defines a grievance a “…..any discontent or dissatisfaction , whether exposed or not, whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the company which an employee thinks, believes or even feels to be unfair , unjust or inequitable”.

Need for a Grievance Procedure

Grievance procedure is necessary for any organization due to following reasons:

(1) Most grievances seriously disturb the employees. This may affect their morale,

productivity and their willingness to cooperate with the organization. If an explosive situation develops, this can be promptly attended to if a grievance handling procedure is already in existence.

(2) It is not possible that all the complaints of the employees would be settled by first time supervisors, for these supervisors may not have had a proper training for the purpose, and they may lack authority. Moreover, there may be personality conflicts and other causes as well.

(3) It serves as a check on the arbitrary actions of the management because supervisors know that employees are likely to see to it that their protest does reach the higher management.

(4) It serves as an outlet for employee’s gripes, discontent and frustrations. It acts like a pressure valve on steam boiler. The employees are entitled to legislative,

Executive and judicial protection and they get this protection from the grievance

Redressal procedure, which also acts as a means of upward communication.

The causes of Grievances

The causes of employee grievances include:

· Demands for individual wage adjustment

· Complaints about the incentive system

· Complaints about the job classification

· Complaints against a particular foreman

· Complaints concerning disciplinary measures and procedures

· Objections to the general methods of supervision

· Loose calculation and interpretation of seniority rules and unsatisfactory interpretation of agreements

· Promotion

· Disciplinary discharge or lay-off

· Transfer for another department or another shift

· Inadequacy of safety and health service/devices

· Non-availability of material in time

· Violation of contracts relating to collective bargaining

· Improper job assignment

· Undesirable or unsatisfactory conditions of work

· Victimization and

· Fines.

Pre-requisites of a Grievance Procedure

The efficiency of a grievance procedure depends upon the fulfillment of certain pre-requisites. These are as follows:

Conformity with Prevailing Legislation

While designing the grievance procedure, due consideration must be given to the existing statutory provisions. In other words , the existing grievance machinery as provided by law may be made use of.

Clarity

There should be clarity regarding each and every aspect of the grievance procedure. An aggrieved employee must be informed about the person to whom a representation can be made, the form of submission , the time limit for the redressal of grievance etc. Similarly, the redressing authority should be very clear about what is expected from him, what measures he can take, the limits within which he should resort to an action etc.

Simplicity

The grievance procedure should be simple. Every employee must understand different stages of the procedure, the forms to be filled up, the witness required etc If there are too many stages in the procedure, too many forms to be filled up, too much going around etc., the very purpose of the procedure is defected. Instead of resorting to the formal procedure, an employee may ignore it.

Promptness

The promptness with which a grievance is processed adds further to the success of the grievance procedure. Since just delayed is justice denied, the procedure should aim at rapid disposal of the grievances.

Training

The success of procedure also depends upon imparting training to the supervisors and union representatives in handling grievances.

Follow-up

The successful working of a grievance procedure depends upon a proper follow-up by the personnel department. The department should periodically review the procedure and introduce the essential structural changes making it more effective.