Chapter 7

Disciplinary Action
 Discipline

• It is a state of employee self control and

orderly conduct pursuit within the
organization.
• It is a code of behavior, using punishment
to correct disobedience
 Objectives of Disciplinary Action
• Maintain peace and order in industry
• Promote constructive criticism at all levels of management
and employment
• Avoid work stoppage in industry
• Secure the settlement of disputes and grievances by
mutually agreed procedure
• Avoiding litigations
• Facilitate a free growth of TU
• Eliminating all forms of coercion, intimidation and violations
of rules and regulations governing IR.
 Causes of Indiscipline
• The whims of the authority may create indiscipline
in the organization
• Lack of publicity
• Sometimes superior or immediate boss behave
badly with his subordinate which have adverse
effects in the mind of subordinate
• To take prompt action to implement awards,
agreements, settlements, and decisions.
 Steps of Disciplinary Action
Step 1: Is formal action necessary?
Step 2: Commencing a disciplinary process – planning is key!
Step 3: Suspension
Step 4: Investigation
Step 5: Information to be given to the employee before the
disciplinary hearing
Step 6: Statutory Right to be Accompanied
Step 7: Record keeping
Step 8: The Decision
Step 9: Communicating the decision
Step 10: Appeals
 Types of Discipline
• Positive discipline
• It implies a sense of duty to observe the rules regulations and is also called
self discipline.
• It involves creation of a favourable atmosphere in the organization where
by employees willingly conform to the established rules and regulations.
• Positive discipline can be achieved through rewards and effective
leadership.
• It is more effective than negative discipline.
• Positive discipline promotes cooperation and coordination with a minimum
of formal organization and reduces the need for personal supervision
required to maintain standards
• According to Spiegel, "positive discipline does not replace reason but
applies reason to the achievement of a common objective. Positive
discipline does not restrict the individual but enables him to have a greater
freedom in that he enjoys a greater degree of self-expression in striving to
achieve the objective, which he identifies as his own."
• Negative discipline
• It is also known as punitive or corrective discipline involves imposition of
penalties or punishment to force workers to obey rules and regulations
objective is to ensure that employees do not violate the rules and
regulations. Negative disciplinary action involves such techniques as fines
reprimand, demotion, layoff, transfer etc.
• Negative discipline does not eliminate undesirable behaviour, it merely
oppresses it. It requires regular monitoring causing wastage of time.
Punishment also causes resentment and hostility. While exercising negative
discipline, management should proceed in a sequential manner viz. an oral
reprimand, a written reprimand ,a warning, temporary suspension and
dismissal or discharge.
 Why Disciplinary Action Failed
• Lack of proper policies
• Improper management
• Sometimes management can’t judge real
situation
• Management do not want to judge
• History of disciplinary actions within the
organization is not good
• Lack of quality of supervisor
• No proper guidelines and rules for
disciplinary actions
• Impact of outside forces
• Bad influences of political leaders and their
pressure on management
• Bad influences of trade unions and their
pressure on management
• Less control of government over the private
organizations
 Disciplinary procedure under labour laws of Bangladesh

All employers and employees should be aware that dismissal or removal can only
take place after completion of a disciplinary procedure as per the Bangladesh
Labour Act, 2006 (hereinafter referred as "BLA") and the Bangladesh Labour
Rules, 2015 (hereinafter referred to as “BLR”)
The disciplinary procedure, as contained in the BLA is usually initiated when
there is an allegation of misconduct against an employee.
The BLA provides, the followings shall be treated as misconduct, namely;
a) willful disobedience, whether alone or in combination with others to any
lawful or reasonable order of a superior;
b) theft, misappropriation, fraud or dishonesty in connection with business or
property of the employer;
c) taking or giving a bribe in connection with his or any other worker's
employment under the employer;
d) habitual absence without leave of absence for more than 10 (ten) days at a
time without obtaining leave;
e) habitual late attendance;
f) habitual breach of any law or rule or regulation applicable to the
establishment;
disorderliness, riot, arson or breakage in the establishment;
h) habitual negligence in work;
i) habitual breach of any rule relating to employment, including discipline or
conduct, approved by the Chief Inspector;
j) altering, forging, wrongfully changing, damaging or causing loss to
employer's official records
However, it should be noted that the list of acts stated above is a non-exhaustive
list and may include acts which are contrary to the general governance of the
establishment, provided it is approved by the Chief Inspector, Ministry of Labour
and Employment.Provided below, is a guideline to be followed when there is an
allegation of misconduct against an employee.
1. Any complaint against any employee shall be made/recorded in writing
addressed to the authorized officer or department. Upon receipt of a written
complaint, the concerned authority (usually the chief executive or the Human
Resources Department) shall issue a show-cause notice to the concerned
employee mentioning the charge/allegation and allowing the employee a time
frame of at least 07 (seven) days for submission of written explanation.
Upon receipt of a written explanation from the concerned employee, where such an explanation is
considered to be satisfactory, the complaint will be regarded as settled and this will not affect any
future employment of such employee.
3. However, upon not receiving any explanation or upon receipt of written explanation from the
concerned employees, where such explanation is considered to be unsatisfactory, the employer
shall make arrangements to form an enquiry committee, constituted with equal number of
members representing the Employer's side and the employees' side, to make formal enquiry into
the matter. The committee shall submit a report on the enquiry to the Employer.
4. The enquiry committee can consist of no more than six members. Subsequently, the enquiry
committee will send the report containing decision as to guilt to the authority for necessary action.
5. The Employer or any person deriving authority from the Employer shall nominate the
Employer's representative(s) in the Inquiry Committee from within the organization. Similarly,
the accused employee shall nominate the representative(s) from the employee's side from amongst
the employees of the organization by a written proposal.
6. Accordingly, the organization shall then issue the notice of enquiry to the concerned
employee to hold a hearing of the case specifying certain details. It shall also be notified to him
that he may bring another person nominated by him from within the organization to assist him
during the hearing.
7. The witness, either from the employees' or from the members' side, if any, should be
examined and cross-examined by the enquiry committee and by the accused employee. The
statement of the witness(s) should be recorded and the witness(s) must sign the paper on which
his/her statement was recorded.
The evidence in support of Show cause letter and charge(s) brought against the
accused employee shall also have to be presented before the accused for his
comments. The enquiry committee shall then submit a full report on the
inquiry with a decision as to whether the accused is guilty or not along with
their fact findings, comments etc.
9. The Employer decides which punishment shall be imposed on the
concerned employee based on such report. In relation to the awarding of
punishment, the Employer shall take into consideration, the previous record of
the concerned employee, the gravity of the misconduct, the achievement and
contributions of the accused employees during the employment and any other
relevant factors that may exist in the situation.
10. Once all the above steps have been complied with and the accused
employee has been found to have in fact committed the misconduct, the
Employer is then at liberty to dismiss the employees without prior notice or
payment in lieu thereof.
Dismissing or being dismissed is not a pleasant experience. However, it is
hoped that this article may provide some guidance as to the rights and
obligations of both parties in this situation.
Role of Govt. in Disciplinary Action
• Govt. should have specific role about DA
• Particular guidelines about rules regulations
should be established
• Govt. must have control over management
• Both management and employee’s interest should
be considered.
• Govt. should monitor the current discipline
practice within the organization
• Training programs can be developed to improve
current situation
• Different seminar can be arranged for this regard
• There should have proper communication
between high officials and workers
• Govt. can use the religious leaders as a teacher to
teach people about the discipline.
 Role of Political Leaders
The political leaders have a strong position in our
society.
• They should follow discipline to correct the people
as many people follow them
• They should attain public meeting timely
• They can influence people about discipline
effectively
• They can inform the general people about the
benefit of discipline
• They must not involve in any type of unfair policies
within the organization
• They can be the helping hand of management
regarding taking of disciplinary actions
• They should not take illegal benefits from the TU
• They should not take illegal benefits from the
management
• They must deal the matter fairly