SEPARATION Separation indicates severing the relationship between employer and the employee.

Employment is a matter of contract between master and servant and therefore any discontinuity/break in terms of employment contract shall be termed as Separation. It has two sides: Positive: legal case Either as per law or HR policies of the company. Negative: Separation will be inflicted on due to Non-performance obligation of employee like absentism. The separation process is time consuming and complicated as well. It develops a bitter taste between master and servant. Therefore, the master must ensure that negative process of separation to be inflicted only when it is essential. The separations have been distributed in the following kinds: Resignation: It is employees wish / intention to be separated from the organisation. The employee opts for putting in his papers or resignation of declaring his intention to be separated. The employer must accept the resignation given by the employee and communicate companys decision of having accepted the resignation. The process of resignation is not complete unless 2-way communication is established.

Case: BHEL Employee resigned and the company accepted resignation. However, the company did not show the intention of accepting the resignation.
In majority of the cases, employee resigns from the employment on personal reasons/to pursue other interest/ better prospects in other employment. Once the letter of communication is accepted and communicated to the employee, employees final dues need to be settled as stipulated in terms of law or companies policies. Resignation has remained the safest way of exit from the company as no party can force the others to leave the organisation.

Discharge: It is a separation process and 100% legal. The process discharges the employee and relieves him of any of the assignments he has on hand. In case of management discharging the employee, it can be with immediate effect or can be on a particular date one needs to be released. Discharge has positive and negative aspects: Negative Aspect: It amounts to a disciplinary action against the employee for his non-compliance / loss of confidence or any other matter in which the employee is involved and is working against the interest of the organisation. The management may not give all the benefits but may hold on certain benefits like gratuity payment, leave encashment etc. Positive Aspect: The employer has sympathy towards loyal employee or ailing employee and therefore may suggest releasing the employee from employment by giving the necessary notice or condoning the notice period. Such employee is not in the bad books of the company but management has some compulsions and therefore releases the employee from the employment. The company passes on all statutory benefits along with any other additional benefits that management wishes.

Dismissal: Dismissal is a disciplinary matter used as a last resort for termination of employment. It is not desire but when the offence committed by the employee is of serious nature and cannot be excused with any minor punishments, the employer terminates the employment of such employee. It is a legal process and the employer must undergo the legal process before dismissal of employee. The concerned employee must be given an opportunity to defend himself and the employer must try to prove the guilt of the employee. Once the charges are proven, then depending on seriousness of the offence, the employer can terminate the employees services with Dismissal. The dismissed employee is required to be given a dismissal letter explaining the facts, the legal process, and conclusion of the management in respect of the subject matter. The employee is required to be given all his dues within stipulated time as prescribed. It is at discretion of the employer whether such dismissed employee is given the benefit of certain payments like annual bonus, performance bonus, gratuity etc.

Retirement: Retirement indicates separation from the employment because of any personal reason or any interest of the employee or thinking of stopping the work etc. The simple meaning is one does not continue to be called as Employee any more. Retirement is considered as a separation on following grounds: 1. Company, retirement means end of working life of that employee in that company. (Not because of any disciplinary proceedings). 2. Employee: Wants to opt out of employment to pursue his interest/change the track/does not want to continue to be employed. Hence, he submits the resignation or management offers separation package for him. 3. Social concept is indicative of one has reached the age of retirement and therefore one comes out of the employment not expected to have any earning source for him but enjoys a peaceful retired life. The employer also offers some retirement packages on caseto-case basis. In terms of retirement, the employer is required to settle all dues as prescribed in law.

Voluntary retirement scheme: VRS is an unofficial separation package by the management to the employees. Before 1990, Indian industry was labour intensive and labour surplus. The additional fat needed to be removed and therefore the process of downsizing has taken place. Removal of any employee in Indian Industry is extraordinarily difficult task and therefore the employers found out a media to reduce the employee strength to the required level by offering them additional benefits beyond legal entitlement. The additional compensation used to be determined based on 30-60 days wages for every completed year of service. Beyond the advanced age, like 54-55, the compensation will be much lesser. In between the process, the government also helps the industry by giving certain tax benefits to the VRS employees. Govt. went a step further and declared that the VRS employees could be given certain facilities of investing their retails in high yield G-Sec. Once the VRS scheme is given, the employer moved towards unwanted employees in the organisation like active trade unionists, non-productive employees etc and offered them a scheme called as CRS. (CRS is unofficial) Under income-tax rules, the required employees had to give certain undertakings to the govt. and the employers were forbidden from any recruitment of employees for next 3 years. Henceforth, the employer

strength will remain in control units and Contract Labour Concept will manage additional work / labour.