The Supreme Court has orderered Hyundai Autoever India to pay Rs 5 lakh for approaching the arbitral tribunal for an appointment to resolve an issue pertaining to non-payment of wages to and termination of Dushyant Janbandhu, an assistant general manager at the firm.
Calling this “an abuse of process” the apex court observed that the employer’s claim that the employee breached the non-disclosure obligation, was not brought up or even mentioned in the show cause notice, or the inquirity report. It was absent in the charge sheet and termination order too.
Justices P S Narasimha and Sandeep Mehta who comprised the bench alleged that Hyundai Autoever India’s actions against Janbandhu were tantamount to “abuse of the process” and were aimed at threatening the employee who was seeking justice for having been fired and deprived of wages.
As per the bench, disputes pertaining to non-payment of wages and the legality of termination of employment are non-arbitrable.
Janbandhu joined as assistant manager in March of 2019. Within a year, he was asked to work from home amid the Covid-19 pandemic, till January 2021. However, the company demanded that he begin working from the physical office starting August 2020, but Janbandhu refused. The company sent him a show cause notice in September, 2020, after an inquiry and a charge memo were issued. He was terminated on 21 January, 2021.
As he had not been paid his salary, Janbandhu went to court filing a case under the Payment of Wages Act. In response, his employer appointed an arbitrator. Following objection raised by Janbandhu, the arbitrator did not help settle the dispute, which he claimed wasn’t under his jurisdiction. Hyundai Autoever then went to the Madras High Court seeking appointment of arbitral tribunal following which an advocate was appointed as an arbitrator as the company had raised the issue of breach of non-disclosure obligation for the first time, evidently as an afterthought. It was clear to the HC that no non-disclosure obligations had been violated. Also, Janbandhu was the first to approach the authority under the Payment of Wages Act and therefore, it was clear that his employer was merely trying to threaten him for going to the statutory authorities under the Payment of Wages Act and the Industrial Disputes Act.
