Martin Ssebuyira
8 June 2011
One morning, Mr Kalungi received a phone call informing him that his photo and names had appeared in a daily newspaper notifying the public that he was no longer an employee of a company he worked for.
The advert further showed that whoever conducts business with him does it at his or her own risk.
He rushed to the streets to buy a copy and on seeing himself, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He failed to understand the motive because the ad came two months after he had resigned and his resignation accepted. “It was such a trying moment,” he says.
For Kalungi and many others in his situation, that advert was like a life sentence to joblessness. Many people like Kalungi working for either government or private organisations in Uganda are sacked and their names and photos published in the media that ‘the above mentioned person is no longer an employee of this firm and whoever transacts business with him/her does it at his/her own risk’.
The notice does not only cause ridicule to a person affected but damages a person’s career because no company will want to employ a person implicated in gross misconduct, even when no details of that alleged misconduct is captured in the notice.
Research carried out by this paper shows that private human resource companies contracted to recruit workers for various organisations nowadays make copies of papers that have such notices and file them either manually in box files or electronically in computer specialized data storage programs. They peruse them regularly whenever they have a recruitment to make.
The firms seriously take extra caution and cannot take on a person whose image has appeared in the papers because they could run out of business when the people who contracted them lose confidence in them after ascertaining that a person shortlisted for a given job was once terminated and his names published in the media. Jobs and Career today takes you through what a person terminated and whose names are published in the media goes through and how they collect the pieces to rise again and get gainful employment elsewhere.
According to Kalungi it is such a challenging moment. It even affects the victim’s career as people who employ you or willing to employ you may look at you as a person with no integrity.
“It means a lot. You get people who know you calling to explain what happened and it disorganises you for quite a while,” he says.
He says that he was in the middle of last year rewarded for being the best performer and was given some money and a salary increase but after two months, they started giving him transfers that disorganised him and he resigned.
The shock
“I got another job. But two months after, I see an advert showing that I was terminated and no longer working with Blue,” he adds.
He says; “I went to the Human Resource department for an explanation and they gave me a letter showing that I had been terminated for non- performance but I refused to sign it because my resignation had already been accepted. It could have been fabricated as a result of company in-fighting,” he says.
To deal with the other consequences, Kalungi says he went to police and requested that they investigate and a letter clearing his name is the ticket he now uses at his new job. According to Mr Kalungi, his former employers could have been scared that he would continue transacting business on behalf of Blue and placed an ad to make the public aware.
Another person, formerly working with a media organisation in Kampala who asked for anonymity described his experience after publication of his face as “truly outrageous” he said, people lose trust in you and they always want an explanation.
“I felt totally angered but I had no option. But somehow I managed to get over it and I got another place to work in,” he says.
Monitor Publications Limited human resources officer Efrance Musimenta says human resource persons publish names of people sacked from different companies on issues of gross misconduct.
Set criteria
“We normally publish names of workers sacked from companies for either defrauding the company, theft or wanting to protect the company image because a person may continue transacting business on behalf of the company,” Ms Musimenta says.
She adds that people who handle money on behalf of the company like credit and loans officers, marketers or advertisers may continue conducting business with clients and the company may receive complaints from clients claiming to have paid yet the company didn’t receive the money.
Mr Emmanuel Bob Mukiza Rubasha, a Human Resources Manager at Laico Lake Victoria Hotel says that the company normally follows given procedures before putting a worker’s photo in the media.
“We first inform police then the photo and personal details are published to inform the public who may continue transacting business with the person yet he/she has left the company,” he says.
Mr Paul Nyende, the head of the Community Physiology department at Makerere University says it may not hurt if a person defrauded the company but it becomes worse when the person has been falsely accused.
Police publicist Mr Vincent Ssekatte says it is wrong to publish names of sacked staff if they have not been investigated and found guilty.
“They are supposed to inform police and the station crime investigations boss writes to the Inspector General of Police to publish victims under police appeal and put the numbers to call,” he says.
Police caution
He says the Police normally cautions companies that publicise people having criminal cases without involving police because they do it outside of the law.
Mr Daudi Balonddemu, a city lawyer, says a person publicised for gross misconduct may have no defense but one publicised without a genuine reason may either seek a judicial review if he/she is a government worker or sue for unlawful dismissal.
He says companies should first issue a warning or give the victim fair hearing before resolving to dismiss him/her and publish the names and photo in the media that may damage one’s career.
Being published in the media for the wrong reasons can be a nightmare.
AllAfrica – All the Time