FREE online courses on Employee Grievances and Discipline - Suspension

 

Suspension means prohibiting an employee from attending work, preventing him from discharging the duties assigned to him and withholding the wages payable to him. Suspension does not imply termination of services of an employee: it only means denial of work to him. When the act of misconduct of an employee is considered serious, he is suspended (called as procedural suspension) and an enquiry is ordered to find out whether he is really guilty or not. Sometimes the employee may be suspended, even before issuing a charge-sheet so as to prevent him from tampering with the records of the organization. The employer is obliged to pay a subsistence allowance (one half of basic wage + dearness and compensatory allowances) to the delinquent employee for a period of 90 days. If the enquiry goes beyond 90 days, the allowance is increased to three fourths of the employees' normal emoluments. Minor offences like late coming, sleeping while at work, smoking in prohibited places, etc., do not invite serious punishments like suspension unless the employee repeats the offences habitually. Where standing orders are in force the rules for suspending an employee are mentioned therein and are expected to be followed scrupulously.