• Large MNC gave a failed product & forced to sell it in India

I was hired by a very large MNC few years back but was not informed the real challenges of the role/product beforehand. Pressurized to sell the product anyhow if I have to keep the job going, senior managers paid no heed to the feedback from market inspite of the product having serious health and evironmental issues and the organisation itself claming to be the frontrunners in HSE worldwide. This caused tremendous stress, pressure and frustation forcing to take up another job in a diff division in same organisation at same level. Organisation closed that business in India and also at other global locations after few years, took the product off the market siting other reasons but never the real reason. The entire team was either absorbed in other divisions or laid off.

Will their be a legal case as this company set up the employees for failure, hide the facts from employees and the market and never provided right products and opportunities to their employees.

KIndly advise if this can be taken up legally to claim compensation and if so what is the process etc.

Thanks very much in advance for the advise.
Asked 9 years ago in Business Law

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6 Answers

1)for sale in India the company must have obtained necessary regulatory approvals .

2) it could not have been sold unless it met the legal requirements

3) as on date the product is not being sold in india

4) there would be no products available for testing in india . had the product failed safety tests it would have been banned and company forced to recall its products

5) the company and its officers prosecuted for fraudulently selling product in india in spite of being aware that it did not satisfy quality standards laid down

6) as on date no question of any prosecution arises unless some employee squeals the beans to the authorities and provides necessary evidence .

7)let the employee provide necessary documentary evidence of health issues with the product to the authorities and the management insistence on selling the same in spite of being aware of adverse health effects

8) the company and senior officers in charge of day to day management would be prosecuted

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
96983 Answers
7831 Consultations

If the company knew about the side effects on health and environment and still insisted the employees to promote the product without informing them about the same, is criminal action.

As they failed to take corrective action even after you or other employees have brought it to your notice is not right.

You can sue them for making you to sell wrong product andbseek compensation. First and for most you should cause legal notice to the company/previous employer.

Sandeep Hegde
Advocate, Bangalore
418 Answers
154 Consultations

1. Sorry, in absence of any forceful employment you were free to leave the job at your will.

2. Many jobs attachment results with the continuation of job and your job was no exceptions.

3. Since the job is laid off, search for new job.

I may categorically say that no legal proceedings for compensation lies against the company.

All the best.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
23231 Answers
514 Consultations

As an employee you are bound to perform the employment obligations which you have agreed and signed in the offer letter and the employment conditions were given to you in writing along with the appointment letter.

If you did not raise the issue at that time and quit the job on that basis, whatever action you may intend to take now will be colored as an after thought action to blackmail the employer for extorting money from him.

Further the cited issues never was reported against the company by any authority nor there was any complaint from the side f the general public and also before this could become an issue, the company withdrew the product from the market, hence there is no case at all or there can lie no cause of action for the proposed action by you.

This issue can be taken up by the affected person/end user, you are not the one so see what grounds you have to fight out a legal case against the company.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
87185 Answers
2341 Consultations

1. Even if there is a case against the company, you as an employee, will not be booked for any crime committed by the Company,

2. Compensation is claimed if some loss or damage has been created due to some act of others,

3. In the instant case, you have suffered no loss or damage whatsoever,

4. So, no suit claiming compensation lies here.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27461 Answers
726 Consultations

1. You were supposed to carry your own diligence to know the challenges of the role assigned to you.

2. Nobody has the right to employment in a private institution, but when you are a part of a private institution the procedure to remove the employee has to be in consonance with the law. If the company suffered losses it had every right to reduce the salaries payable to its employees, or lay them off.

3. Unless you can prove that the company alone was blameworthy for the failure of the product and the consequent lay off, you cannot claim damages from it.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30776 Answers
972 Consultations

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