Spontaneity

CEO deposition

Interviewer : We are here to discuss the termination of Mr. Suresh from the position of CFO at the company. He has raised a grievance both on the act itself and the way it was undertaken. We will ask you some questions now and are recording this conversation.

CEO : Please go ahead

I : You are on video in the company's AGM and several other meetings and events saying "We need a new CFO, someone who is more senior". Doesn't that mean you wanted the incumbent to be terminated?

C : No, where did I say that? I just said we need a new guy.

I : Did you have two CFO positions in mind?

C : No

I : So just the one. And you said you wanted a new guy for the role. That implies the current role-holder would have to go, doesn't it?

C : That is your interpretation.

I : Did you have another role in mind for the current CFO incumbent?

C : No, I did not like the guy

I : So you wanted him out of the company?

C : He was a misfit to our culture. He was too young and not able to perform his function.

I : But that was being looked into by the Board. They had explicitly instructed that he not be terminated while they were looking into your complaint that he was a culture misfit.

C : Yes

I : You still advised HR to terminate him?

C : No, I just advised HR to hire a new guy in his place

I : You knew they would have to fire the incumbent in order to hire a new guy

C : You're just putting words into my mouth. Let me say this once again - I just advised that a new CFO be hired. I'm deeply saddened that Mr. Suresh got terminated in the process - I had no idea he would be terminated - I had no control over this aspect.

HR Head deposition

I : Did you issue the termination letter to Mr. Suresh?

H : No, it was issued by our automated system. We have automated all communications relating to payroll

I : But you would have fed the input and programmed it to send out the letter

H : Yes, I did. I fed in the text and set the date and time for it to be sent to Mr. Suresh

I : So you sent the letter

H : No, the system sent it. You can see the email - it is from the HR system email id, not from me. You would have to catch the software people to trace exactly who was responsible for my instruction being carried out.

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The enquiry concluded that while it is true that the hiring of a new guy was a conscious act by management, the termination of the incumbent was a spontaneous system-driven act and cannot be traced back to a singular directive or instruction from any of the CXOs