DISCIPLINARY PROCESS POLICY

INTRODUCTION

This policy is in place to provide guidelines for the Employee Disciplinary Process.

PURPOSE

MYTM (Pvt.) Ltd. (“company”) is committed to helping and encouraging all colleagues to achieve and maintain standards of conduct, attendance and performance. This policy is designed to ensure fairness and consistency when addressing through disciplinary action employee’s behavior contravening professional conduct of MYTM (Pvt.) Ltd. values and / or affecting the Company’s business.

The Purpose of this policy is to outline a disciplinary procedure framework to deal with corrective matters relating to employees and any aspect of their employment, including but not limited to conduct and focus on the incident and not on the individual.

POLICY STATEMENT

This policy is applicable to all the employees of the Company, regarding their level and position.

POLICY SCOPE & CONTENT

Any step taken under this policy must observe and comply with the local legal requirements of the country where the company operates. At any times, the legal provisions will supersede the guidelines of this policy.

Any steps under this policy should be taken promptly unless there is a good reason for delay. As a guideline, this should be within maximum 30 days, informal proceedings will be considered by line management, where appropriate, to resolve conduct or performance problems.

DISCIPLINARY ACTION

• Disciplinary action may be taken under the grounds of either conduct or performance.

• The Disciplinary procedure may be instigated ay any stage if the employees alleged conduct or performance warrants this. This means the disciplinary action may begin at dismissal or any level of warning is dependent upon the offence committed by the employee – it is not necessary to start the disciplinary action at the lowest level and go through the disciplinary septs.

• Disciplinary measure cannot be taken based on hearsay. A formal and thoroughly investigation must be conducted and the findings recorded. For as much as possible, written statements should be taken from the involved parties. A neutral and objective outlook is to be maintained at all times during the investigation process in order to ensure fairness of the disciplinary decision.

• The employee has the rights to appeal against any disciplinary action, which must be done in writing and within 5 working days from the date the employee is advise of the warning. The appeal may be raised on a number of grounds: the existence of new information / evidence that was not considered at the hearing, where the employee feels that the process was not properly followed or undue severity of the penalty.

SUSPENSION

• If the employee should be suspected then the employee may be suspended from work on full pay, or without pay while the investigation is ongoing. The colleague should only be suspended, if necessary, for example gross misconduct or if the employee might influence the investigation. It should be made clear that the suspension is not an assumption of guilt.

• If the Company is satisfied that the offense has occurred, the employee may be dismissed without pay from the date of suspension. An employee should not be suspended for more than 5 working days; however, this is on a case by case basis.

PROGRESSIVE LEVELS OF DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS

STAGE 1 – VERBAL WARNING

This warning may be issued by the employee’s department head or immediate line manager. An HR representative is not required to be present, however a copy of the Disciplinary Letter must be sent to HR to be placed in the employee’s file.

• If the employee refuses to sign the Disciplinary Letter to acknowledge receipt, a company representative must witness and sign the employee has received the letter but refused to sign and the verbal warning must still be placed on the employee’s personal file. Human Resources should be consulted before issuing a warning to an employee; this is to ensure consistency across the company.

• This verbal warning will remain active in the employee’s personal file for 3 months, but will not prevent a promotion or transfer but put on hold the increment, if due.

STAGE 2 – 1ST WRITTEN WARNING

• Should a more serios incident occur, if there is a repetition of minor offences, or if there has been no improvement after a Verbal Warning a 1st written may be issued.

• The warning will set out the nature of the conduct and/or performance problem, the change in performance needed, the time scale, any help that may be required, the consequence of further misconduct or continued performance issues, how long the warning will remain active, and will notify the employee of his/her right to appeal.

• The 1st Written Warning may be issued by the Head of Department after thoroughly investigating and meeting with the concerned employee. The Head of Department must consult HR who will then be present at the hearing if deemed necessary.

• The 1st Written Warning will remain active in the employee’s personal file for 6 months. During this period the employee may not be promoted or transferred and further incidents may result in more serious disciplinary action.

• If the employee does not sign the Disciplinary Letter to acknowledge the receipt a company representative must witness and sign that the employee has received the letter but refused to sign, and the warning will still be placed in the employee’s file.

STAGE 3 – 2ND WRITTEN WARNING

• Should another incident occur, if an incident is repeated, or if there has been no improvement in performance / conduct in the timescale agreed on following the 1st Written Warning, the employee may be issued a 2nd Written Warning.

• The 2nd Written Warning will be issued by the Head of Department after thoroughly investigating and meeting with the concerned employee. The Head of Department must consult HR who will then be present at the meeting/hearing if deemed necessary.

• The 2nd Written Warning will remain ‘active’ in the employee’s personal file for 9 months. During this period the employee may not be promoted or transferred, and further incidents may result in a more serious disciplinary action.

• If the employee does not sign the Disciplinary Letter to acknowledge the receipt a company representative must witness and sign that the employee has received the letter but refused to sign, and the warning will still be placed in the employee’s file.

STAGE 4 – FINAL WRITTEN WARNING

• If the employee’s conduct/performance is deemed serious by the company, or if there are further issues or failure to improve performance following prior warnings, a Final Written Warning may be issued to the employee.

• The Final Written Warning will be issued only by an HR representative after meeting with the concerned employee and conducting an exhaustive investigation.

• The Final Written Warning will remain ‘active’ in the employee’s personal for 1 year. During this period the employee may not be promoted or transferred.

• If the employee does not sign the Disciplinary Letter to acknowledge the receipt a company representative must witness and sign that the employee has received the letter but refused to sign, and the warning will still be placed in the employee’s file.

STAGE 5 – TERMINATION OF SERVICES / DISMISSAL

• If the company decides that the conduct/performance warrants dismissal or if there is continued conduct/performance issues, failure to improve conduct/performance following prior warnings or suspension(s), the employee may be dismissed.

• The company may terminate the services of an employee with no previous disciplinary records on file in case of gross misconduct. Gross misconduct is defined as wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by intentional purpose or by negligence to the consequences of one’s acts. Some examples of gross misconduct are: disregard towards the safety of self or others, intentional acts of violence or hostility, sexual harassment, deliberate attempt to financially defraud the company, serve insubordination, or dishonesty through falsification of documents or other forms of misrepresentation.

• The dismissal decision must be communicated in written to the employee, in a Termination Letter Stating the reason for dismissal, investigation details and findings.

• All dismissal decisions must be approved by the Director HR and Board Member(s). It is the responsibility of the Human Resources Director and Head of Department to consult the Board Member(s) before taking and communicating a dismissal decision.

APPEAL PROCESS

• The employee has the right to appeal and they must raise the matter in writing stating the grounds for the appeal within 5 working days being dismissed or receiving the Disciplinary Notification. The company will determine the level of senior management who will deal with the appeal.

• After the appeal is reviewed the employee will be invited to attend an appeal hearing and given the opportunity to state his/her case at the hearing.

• The decision made at the appeal hearing is final.

SALARY DEDUCTION

• • The company may charge the employee for any monetary losses resulting from the breach of operational standards or negligence on the part of the employee.

  • A formal investigation process must be conducted, including an interview with the employee and all other concerned parties.

  • No salary deduction can be made without notifying the employee in writing of the incident, investigation findings, exact amount to be deducted and, if applicable, number and value of monthly installments.

  • The employee can acknowledge and accept the letter of notification of else can appeal the decision and ask for the reevaluation of the incident. In this case, deductions are to be kept on hold util the final decision is officially communicated.

  • An employee cannot be subject to both salary deduction and warning for the same offense. The management must assess the situation and decide which disciplinary measure is more adequate considering the circumstances.

RESPONSIBILITIES

It is the responsibility of the Department Heads, Human Resources and Board Members to ensure this policy is set into action and its guidelines strictly adhered to. The warning letters shall be prepared or reviewed, as applicable, by the Human Resources, before being issued to the employees.