Well, an employee was forced to resign through kickbacks/money. He was an active member of the union and he was busy championing the rights of the employees. The senior management felt intimidated and decided to offer him money in order for him to resign The HR representative was used to negotiate the settlememnt. The employee took the bribe under the circumstances and gave some conditions to his resignation.
He asked the management to promote his wife to a supervisory position at the expense of those who really deserved the promotion. The wife was later dismissed becuase of the reasons known to the management before promoting her i.e absenteeism. lack of punctuality.
Where do you go to report such malpractices by this private company? What are the prospect of the winning the case at the end? Remember both wife and husband are now out of work becuase of these corrupt company officials.
There is nothing unlawful about negotiating a resignation and also nothing unlawful about providing a settlement for the resignation. However, if intimidation was present then the resignation can be unlawful and could actually amount to a dismissal. This comes with the proviso that the intimidation must be provable on solid evidence and not just supposition. The wifes dismissal for absenteesm would only be fair if the company had follwoed fair procedure and had adhered to a principle of progressive discipline. A first offence of absenteesm would probably be to minor to warrant dismissal.