Kerala HC defends staffer terminated for being tipsy on Sri Lankan flight

Can your company sack you for being tipsy on a flight? The Kerala High Court thought otherwise when it set aside the order of SBI life insurance terminating a staffer who lost his job for being intoxicated on a flight en route to a meeting, the New Indian Express reported. MG Venu, who had consumed too much alcohol, was deplaned from the Sri Lankan airlines flight, it said.

The incident occurred while Venu and other officers were en route to Colombo to attend a programme sponsored by SBI life insurance. The SBI treated the incident as a grave misconduct and punished him - with termination of service after which he challenged the order in the High Court.

The court observed that it was not a case of misbehavior or misconduct on duty but, perhaps, on the way to duty. Taking that as a mitigating factor, the court concluded that the punishment imposed is shockingly disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. 

"The punishment imposed on Venu needs modification," the court held, and referred the matter to the authority to reconsider and impose an alternative punishment.

"Confining to Venu’s conduct in office and his discharge of duties, even the employer did not sound uncharitable. That he got five promotions - including three in one year — speaks volumes about his efficiency. Groomed for long to be an asset to the employer, Venu has value, still, to offer to his employer," the court said.

Counsel for SBI life insurance submitted that it had confirmed the allegations with Sri Lankan airlines before taking action against Venu.

He was deplaned only because he had been inebriated, they said. When the court asked whether Venu was on an official trip, the counsel informed that there was ample material to establish that he was on duty.

Source : New Indian Express
-Agencies