Employees cannot be suspended for raising security issues in a WhatsApp group

A technician working at Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) who shared certain posts regarding safety concerns in handling ammonia in a corporate unit has been suspended.

The accusation, dated July 31, 2019, was that he had spread false information via the WhatsApp group and had entered an area to which he was not authorized to enter.

According to the company, his actions had damaged the company’s reputation – it suggested that the workplace was not safe enough – and they violated safety regulations. The employee had apologized for his actions and the company had accepted this. However, he later learned that the company had issued a formal warning as punishment without a formal investigation. Such an official warning, the employee said, could tarnish his track record and career prospects as it would be entered in his service records. Hence, he approached the Kerala High Court, challenging his suspension and the formal warning.

The Kerala High Court observed that the Sujit TV employee had only raised the security concerns in a private WhatsApp group with other technicians of the company, which is not wrong. Justice Satish Ninan said that this action of Sujit did not justify the disciplinary action taken against him. In fact, according to the court, the company had restricted his freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

The court considered that a formal investigation should have taken place before any disciplinary action was taken. Furthermore, the employee’s apology did not indicate that he accepted the allegations against him.

However, the court found that FACT’s warning against unauthorized entry into the ammonia handling area was not false because it violated safety protocols.