One of the key roles of HR is – Compliance.
In light of the current financial and salary crisis in Kingfisher Airlines, where the salaries for the month of February and March are still pending, my questions for discussion are:
Can HR be prosecuted for non-payment or late payment of salaries?
Can HR be prosecuted if the salary cheque gets dishonoured?
In such situations, what are the remedies for HR Pros?
Kindly share your views.
From India, Mumbai
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103In light of the current financial and salary crisis in Kingfisher Airlines, where the salaries for the month of February and March are still pending, my questions for discussion are:
Can HR be prosecuted for non-payment or late payment of salaries?
Can HR be prosecuted if the salary cheque gets dishonoured?
In such situations, what are the remedies for HR Pros?
Kindly share your views.
From India, Mumbai
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Hello Sanjeev,
That's a good topic.
I am not sure if HR, per se, can be prosecuted, since any case filed by employee(s) will be on the company and not on a specific individual. The individual—in this case, the HR executive—is only processing the salary, and the Finance executive is passing the instructions to the Bank for salary disbursement [or giving the check, as the case may be]—unless, of course, there is clear prima facie evidence of the HR person [or Finance guy or any other functionary] playing mischief or acting with willful malicious intent at the individual level.
However, whatever the HR person(s) may think or do, they are after all a part of the Management and they are bound to take the flack in the situations you mentioned [KFA]—sort of an 'occupational hazard,' so to say. The same would apply, I think, to any individual who is part of a team/crowd handling a situation, be it a cricket team or even the government. How many officers are attending the court cases on behalf of the department concerned, even though he/she wasn't even present at the scene when the 'crime' or 'situation' occurred?
In a nutshell, even though HR professionals or departments can't be held responsible for the situation [with the exception I mentioned above], they invariably end up holding the baby and handling the fire-fighting exercise. But at the end of the day, the buck stops with the top boss.
Regards,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
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That's a good topic.
I am not sure if HR, per se, can be prosecuted, since any case filed by employee(s) will be on the company and not on a specific individual. The individual—in this case, the HR executive—is only processing the salary, and the Finance executive is passing the instructions to the Bank for salary disbursement [or giving the check, as the case may be]—unless, of course, there is clear prima facie evidence of the HR person [or Finance guy or any other functionary] playing mischief or acting with willful malicious intent at the individual level.
However, whatever the HR person(s) may think or do, they are after all a part of the Management and they are bound to take the flack in the situations you mentioned [KFA]—sort of an 'occupational hazard,' so to say. The same would apply, I think, to any individual who is part of a team/crowd handling a situation, be it a cricket team or even the government. How many officers are attending the court cases on behalf of the department concerned, even though he/she wasn't even present at the scene when the 'crime' or 'situation' occurred?
In a nutshell, even though HR professionals or departments can't be held responsible for the situation [with the exception I mentioned above], they invariably end up holding the baby and handling the fire-fighting exercise. But at the end of the day, the buck stops with the top boss.
Regards,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
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Can HR be prosecuted for non-payment or late-payment of salaries?
No because that is the decesion of the management not individual's
Can HR be prosecuted if the salary cheque gets dishonored?
No becuase that is processed by finance department not by HR
In such situations, what are the remedies for HR Pros?
No situation is pending for remedies :)
From India, Gurgaon
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No because that is the decesion of the management not individual's
Can HR be prosecuted if the salary cheque gets dishonored?
No becuase that is processed by finance department not by HR
In such situations, what are the remedies for HR Pros?
No situation is pending for remedies :)
From India, Gurgaon
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Few things are really important and common in this case which we need to keep in our mind while discussing this case….
“SALARY, CONDITION OF COMPANY and CONFLICT”
Let me start with a question.
Is there any employment t&c any employer is using which can allow any employee to prosecute HR if found not able to pay salary to employee in this kind of situation/crises. Neither employee nor employer wants to have this bad condition.
Second, we use a clause of “Notice Period” for a special purpose (for both Employer & Employee) but never use anything like if HR/company is not able to pay salaries to employees in this kind of conditions, employee can take legal action against employer. Also everyone who is working under Organization is an employee of company, whether is from HR or Accounts or any other department, and departments are not an individual entity which can be prosecuted for some reason. I fully agree with TS and Gurgaon HR.
HR is not directly responsible for not paying salaries to employee where Finance & Accounts department is responsible for all financial activities (Fund Availability) and responsible for fulfilling the requirement of HR to pay salaries to their employee then why only HR be prosecuted??
This is an extreme situation where company and employees all are well aware of this worse condition of company and that they are not even able to pay salaries to employees but it’s not as they have denied paying salaries to employees.
From India, Gurgaon
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“SALARY, CONDITION OF COMPANY and CONFLICT”
Let me start with a question.
Is there any employment t&c any employer is using which can allow any employee to prosecute HR if found not able to pay salary to employee in this kind of situation/crises. Neither employee nor employer wants to have this bad condition.
Second, we use a clause of “Notice Period” for a special purpose (for both Employer & Employee) but never use anything like if HR/company is not able to pay salaries to employees in this kind of conditions, employee can take legal action against employer. Also everyone who is working under Organization is an employee of company, whether is from HR or Accounts or any other department, and departments are not an individual entity which can be prosecuted for some reason. I fully agree with TS and Gurgaon HR.
HR is not directly responsible for not paying salaries to employee where Finance & Accounts department is responsible for all financial activities (Fund Availability) and responsible for fulfilling the requirement of HR to pay salaries to their employee then why only HR be prosecuted??
This is an extreme situation where company and employees all are well aware of this worse condition of company and that they are not even able to pay salaries to employees but it’s not as they have denied paying salaries to employees.
From India, Gurgaon
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Let me share an incident: Everyone has seen people who try to play second fiddle to bosses. In one such company, the personnel manager gave a suggestion for delaying salaries to staff, and the owner was more than happy. However, one particular employee who was facing hard circumstances committed suicide. The manager got saved because of the system, but wrong advice cost someone his life.
From India, Delhi
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From India, Delhi
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In this case, we are discussing about...bad financial condition of the company and lack of funds....they have not DENIED the payment...; they have delayed the payments. It is different.
From India, Mumbai
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From India, Mumbai
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Mr. Arora,
It's true, and there was no crisis. I have seen HR managers in small companies increasing their favor in the eyes of the boss by paying the least amount of money, whether it be for gratuity, notice pay, allowances, incentives, etc., when letting people go.
From India, Delhi
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It's true, and there was no crisis. I have seen HR managers in small companies increasing their favor in the eyes of the boss by paying the least amount of money, whether it be for gratuity, notice pay, allowances, incentives, etc., when letting people go.
From India, Delhi
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Very good Topic Sanjeev. Mr. TS & Anil have made it very clear. Even though I am late, the HRs are also the employees of the company. Do you think HRs will get salaries if the whole company is delayed? So the same applies for HR as well. If the company is a sick unit, they may opt for lay-off, lockout, closure. It cannot be done once the employees' salaries are settled.
Can HR be prosecuted for non-payment or late-payment of salaries? HRs cannot be prosecuted; only the management should be prosecuted.
Can HR be prosecuted if the salary cheque gets dishonored? No, the authorized signatory who is giving a cheque where no funds are available (Again, the authorized signatory for signing the cheque will be at least a Director).
I hope all your queries have been cleared, and please let us know if there is some other query on this.
Regards,
Ramkishore
From India, Bangalore
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Can HR be prosecuted for non-payment or late-payment of salaries? HRs cannot be prosecuted; only the management should be prosecuted.
Can HR be prosecuted if the salary cheque gets dishonored? No, the authorized signatory who is giving a cheque where no funds are available (Again, the authorized signatory for signing the cheque will be at least a Director).
I hope all your queries have been cleared, and please let us know if there is some other query on this.
Regards,
Ramkishore
From India, Bangalore
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