Failure to follow orders of employment which are lawful and not exploring the employee to Danger is justifiable for dismissal 

- Gorden Frazer & Co. Vs. CMU – peon refusing to follow orders by a clerk - is justifiable for dismissal 

- Ceylon Estates staff’s union Vs. Meddekumbura Estate - Refusal to obey a reasonable order of transfer is justifiable for dismissal 

- CMU Vs. Associate News Papers Limited - Deliberate refusal of overtime to embarrass the employer is justifiable for dismissal

Above is a definition with few Sri Lankan cases

Bishnoi

Dear Sangeetha,

Insubordination / Disobedience  means not accepting or following the reasonable instruction or orders of the superiors.

See the below judgement:

Dismissal from service for misconduct of disobedience of lawful order of the superior cannot be shockingly disproportionate hence Bombay High Court in writ petition in the case of Thermax Ltd Vs Viswanath N Jadhav and Others, set aside reinstatement as awarded by the Labour Court. 2009 LLR 707

 

P.V.Vasanthakumar

Hi Sangeeta,

An employee who displays insubordinate behavior refuses to follow orders from a superior. This also includes instances where the employee breaks even minor company policies. You must be careful because insubordinate behavior sneaks up on you. The insubordinate employee often starts with one or two minor infractions. But once he or she sees this behavior go unpunished, the employee will move on to bolder ways of violating orders and company policies. This will cause you huge problems. You must immediately deal with an employee who is not performing job duties, bothering others and not listening.

Refer this link: http://www.boston.com/jobs/savvy_manager/030804.shtml

Cheers!

Radhika

Dear friends,

Insubordination is refusal by an employee to obey the reasonable and lawful orders of his superiors.  It should be treated as Misconduct and can call for an explanation from such employee by issuing show cause notice and appropriate action such as warning or suspension without pay can be imposed depending on the gravity and basing on the explanation given by the employee. Further, you should not let such indiscipline to spread from one another and a proper disciplinary should be kept in place and the erratic employees may be counseled first before initiating any severe disciplinary action.

Regards,

Harindra Gk