Query posted by a resigning ex-employee in a legal forum

Source: https://www.kaanoon.com/52228/query-regarding-arrears

Q. Query regarding arrears

Sir/ma'am,  At present  I am working in central government department.

before this I was working with lic of India as an officer and resigned from service. 

I joined lic in Feb 2014 and resigned in September 2015. 

Now on January 14, 2016 lic issue gazette notification regarding wage revision

 which were due from 1 August 2012. 

In notification they exclude all employees to paying arrears who were resigned from

 their services after August 1 , 2012 and before date of publishing notification 

as on January 14, 2016. 

So please guide us whether we should file a case against lic or not!

Asked 6 months ago in Labour from Ahmedabad, Gujarat

A.1) you were an employee during the period February 2014- September 2015 

2) if on account of wage revision arrears are payable to employees since 2012 

you should not be denied the benefit merely because you have resigned from

 service prior to date of publication of notification . 

3) the action of LIC is arbitrary , illegal and unsustainable in law . 

4) file writ petition in HC against LIC 

Ajay Sethi

Advocate, Mumbai

 

Mr. S.K.Roy, Ex-Chairman of LIC now becomes a resigning ex-employee!

Respected Ex-Chairman,
                                        Yesterday's newspapers carried the news of your resignation from LIC of India. Welcome to the ranks of resigning ex-employees, who are fighting for their arrears' and difference in retirement benefits' payments which have been unjustly repudiated by LIC of India since 1997! You were one of the perpetrators of this illegal and unjust decision of repudiation of our hard-earned dues.
                                         We are very glad to see that you have got off your high horse, come down to earth and stepped into our well-worn, battle-weary shoes. You've belatedly realized how you were being short-changed by LIC with a measly pay-package not on par with global standards! Hopefully, you'll now empathize with us.
                                         But LIC, the organization with the herd mentality; will just put your flawed and short-sighted decision (Clause 3 1 B, 2016 Charter) on paper, once again.You had also followed your predecessors' unjust and illogical decisions, (taken by them since nearly two decades)! You've judiciously avoided a taste of your own bitter medicine. Maybe your conscience doesn't prick you at all!
                                        When LIC will impudently ask the resigning ex-employees, including you, to knock on the doors of Courts, for their dues, your shoes will pinch you even more, as the learned lawyers representing LIC will vociferously argue that "You are also a disloyal person who quit LIC for greener pastures!" We eagerly look forward to the arguments that you'll present then! Anyway, now that we have your illustrious presence in our midst, our cause will be bolstered and we can be assured of getting all our dues some day soon.
                                           Meanwhile, we also await the day when others from the Managing Board of Directors join our ranks. All the best, Ex-Chairman!
                                                                                                        Yours sincerely,
                                                                                        Resigning Ex-employees of LIC of India

P.S. This is Divine Justice. The cycle of life is eternal. What goes up has to come down and vice-versa!
       Nothing is constant in life, except CHANGE!

Supreme Court's judgment dated 12.02.2008- Fixation of cut-off date is ultra vires!

Order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 1289 of 2007 - Life Insurance Corporation of India and others v. Retirement L.I.C. Officers Association and others, decided on 12.2.2008, wherein the appeal filed by the Life Insurance Corporation of India against the judgment of the Kerala High Court was dismissed.

 

In the aforesaid case, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held to the following effect:-

“25. Revision of scales of pay as also other allowances is technical in nature. When a benefit is extended to a group of employees the effect of such benefit, if otherwise comes within the purview thereof must be held to be applicable to other groups of employees also. An employee is entitled to gratuity. It is not a bounty. It is payable on successful tenure of service. Regulation 77 provides as to how the amount of gratuity is to be calculated. Regulation 51 provides for a rule of measurement. Only because it employed the word “permanent basic pay”, the same will not itself lead to the conclusion that once an employee has retired, he would not be entitled to any revision of the amount of gratuity.

26. The Chairman of the Corporation has himself given a retrospective effect to revision in scales of pay. Such a retrospective effect has also been given so as to benefit a class of employees. The employees, irrespective of the fact whether they had superannuated or not, were given the benefit of arrears of pay from Ist August, 1993. By reason of grant of such benefit both to serving employees as also the superannuated employees, both the class of employees became entitled thereto as of right. If by reason thereof, even a retired employee, as on the date of retirement, became entitled to the benefit of the revised scale of pay, the same for all intent and purpose must be taken to be the permanent basic pay, apart from other allowances, if any, which are required to be taken into consideration for the purpose of computation of the amount of gratuity.”

 

Later, the Hon'ble Supreme Court found that fixation of cut off date by the Chairman of the Corporation is beyond the powers conferred upon him by the Statute.

International Labor Day - Does LIC remember us?

Dear friends,
                    Today must be the day of reckoning for L.I.C of India, our ex-employer, which has unjustly deprived us of our rightful dues. It must come to its senses today, wake up and undo its wrong-doing towards us. Will this International Labor Day prove to be lucky for us, or just fade away into History like the past ones? 
                    All of us must unite and collectively fight for our legal dues, with all our might. Let's wake up the sleeping giant!
                                                                                                                                 Priya

The origin of repudiation of arrears in LIC of India

                    The insurance sector was opened up for private players in 1999. Thus LIC of India, which had a monopoly in the Life Insurance sector in India, lost its USP. It had to pull up its socks, when officers from its top-most cadres started leaving LIC in droves, for better prospects, as there were newer and better job opportunities available. This was a natural phenomenon, as talented employees thought that they could get better working conditions, more autonomy in functioning, better perks and salary on par with global standards; and most importantly, quicker chances of promotion.
                     Instead of conducting a study and researching into what led such people to quit the organization, and improving on the outcome of the research, in terms of the parameters mentioned above, LIC adopted a knee-jerk reaction and took the unfortunate and ill-advised decision to repudiate the resigning employees' arrears payments and even denied them the difference in Statutory retirement benefits such as Provident Fund and Gratuity.
                     This step was,according to the grapevine, a measure aimed at stemming the outgo of employees, proving as a deterrence for other employees considering such options and 'punishing' or penalizing the resigning employees. LIC should have known that disciplinary action could be taken against an employee only when he was in service and not after he had left it!
                    LIC was not able to retain such dynamic and talented employees, owing to its poor or non-existent HR practices. It didn't value its employees resulting into their exodus. Instead it resorted to inclusion of the Clause 3 1) B) which stated that resigning employees would not be granted their arrears' payments. Though this clause itself is illegal, LIC sought to save on its wage bill and peevishly deprive the resigning employees of their rightful dues, in spite of being on the rolls of the Corporation on the date from which the Charter was implemented retrospectively.
                  LIC has thus been repudiating arrears' payments since 1st August 1997, that is from the Charter implemented in the year 2000. It has been nearly 2 decades that this unjust and illegal practice has been actively pursued by LIC, yet the Government hasn't taken any steps to reprimand it. Instead, it actively supports the LIC management's decision by ratifying the Charter and publishing it in its Gazette.
                 The fact that LIC is depriving the Government exchequer of crores of rupees in lieu of Income-tax that would have been deducted from arrears' payments to the resigning employees, had they been paid, is lost on the Finance Ministry.
                  Anyway, it's never too late! The Finance Ministry could intervene and take LIC to task. The Government will be benefited as the taxes will enable it to boost its resources and implement more welfare measures for our countrymen. The arrears and other allied benefits must be paid with interest, as per current rates, to all the affected employees, immediately.

LIC's ill-conceived Concept of Loyalty

             LIC has thousands of employees in its offices. How many of them are sincerely giving output for the requisite number of working hours is questionable. Consider the below-mentioned facts.
             There are employees who have medical problems, some even suffer from life-threatening ailments, yet refuse to resign, just so that they can continue getting medi-claim and complete the mandatory years of qualifying service for voluntary or regular retirement. They are not able to discharge their duties to their fullest capacity when they do attend office, thereby putting the work-overload on their grudging colleagues.
             The relatives of employees who have been appointed on compassionate grounds enjoy the benefits of a stable job, without having to go through the regular process of recruitment.Several of them are complacent and not very keen about their jobs. Most of them retire in the same posts in which they were appointed.
               Then there are the perennial shirkers who have made hedging a fine art. Such people refuse to assume any responsibility for their jobs and while away precious working hours, gossiping or shopping and running errands during office hours. If their superiors attempt to make them realize their responsibility, they in turn will be 'warned' by the Branch Manager to 'go soft on them.' Probably, they fear a backlash from the employees' unions.Such shirkers will never be tolerated in any private enterprise.
               Most of the staff refuse promotions fearing far-away postings and are contented in their current positions. They never aspire to achieve anything. They don't attempt technical exams and thus are not updated in their knowledge about their work. They refuse to give up their seats and don't want even a departmental change, at times.
               Several such non-motivated employees stick on to their well-paying jobs for the entire duration till retirement.  
This is LIC's concept of employee-loyalty. Just warming one's seat! Productivity may be damned!
              During my exit interview with the Manager (P & IR), I mentioned this malaise. He nonchalantly replied, "If 40% of the staff is not working, just ignore them and get their job done by the remaining 60%." I said that this was injustice towards the remaining hard-working employees. "Why should they be over-loaded with work when every employee gets the same salary?" He just shrugged as if implying that that was the way how things worked in LIC. He smiled and remained silent. His attitude was a revelation that the Management was fully aware of such shirkers and that until it didn't take such people to task, things would never improve.
               The grape-vine has it that the Management has decided to repudiate the arrears payments to the resigning employees on the grounds of not being loyal to the Corporation.
               In the light of the facts that I mentioned above, one can't help being amused (and disgusted) by LIC's ill-conceived Concept of Loyalty.
               Even the Provident Fund rules stipulate for transfer of the PF dues from a resigning employee's account to that of his new employer. These rules recognize and appreciate the fact that dynamic and motivated employees will always seek betterment of career prospects. Such employees will contribute positively and productively to the economy, in the long run.
               Besides, why should an employee be unjustly deprived of the arrears' payment, PF and Gratuity difference for the period during which he was on the salary rolls of the Corporation? Even LIC has admitted in reply to my RTI appeal, that this is an arbitrary decision as it doesn't have any reason on record for repudiation of arrears!
               Hence it can safely be said that LIC's top brass needs rigorous lessons in HR practices. Its HR policies are out-dated and need an over-haul urgently. No amount of computerization can achieve it. Attitudes and perceptions have to be examined, analyzed and changed. A behavioral therapy resulting in empathy and sensitization is the need of the hour!

Woman's Empowerment, the LIC way!

         The topmost echelons of the management of L.I.C of India consist of many women. Unfortunately, while they are apparently interested in women's empowerment, (rather, just talking about it!) their actions belie their attitude. There are some who deliver powerful lectures on women's empowerment but when it comes to actually walking the talk, they develop cold feet and coolly look the other way!
          My tryst with the R.T.I appeal to the organization for getting my arrears and answers to queries; proved the above-mentioned sad truth. If I'd have got all my answers, I'd have also felt empowered, but alas, these ladies have forgotten the very meaning of empowerment, by choosing to be the Devil's advocate (literally)!
          True empowerment can be attained only by supporting others. If ladies deprive other ladies (and men!) of their legally rightful dues and also justify it, it's a matter of concern and shame. Surely, they can use their own sense of judgment, reasoning and logic to make the men in their team aware of their flawed and unjust decisions instead of towing their line and trying to save their jobs and maintaining the status quo!
          These ladies have not shown the slightest bit of support to the cause of the resigning employees, arbitrarily and unjustly not being given their arrears and difference in retirement benefits, by the management.

          So one can just conclude that women can be women's best friends and worst foes too!