No, I’m in Dublin: PwC staff working remotely in India; lied when confronted, accuses boss of bullying

A former PwC employee breached his contract by working remotely in India and then challenged PwC when it fired him.

PwC employee Jasch Asher, who started working in the firm’s Dublin office in 2022, secretly left the country in 2024 without notifying his employer and continued to work remotely until Asher was called into the office for a performance improvement planning meeting. The meeting was scheduled for November 2024, but Asher declined the meeting and told his supervisor he was out of the office.According to the contract, Asher is supposed to work in Ireland and be on duty at least 2-3 days a week.After canceling the meeting, Asher’s supervisor figured that since he lived a five to ten minute walk from the office, he could attend the meeting later in the day.Arthur said he had a cold and couldn’t enter the office.The supervisor asked him if he had been in the office earlier that week, he said yes, and he then began making serious accusations against the supervisor and accusing him of bullying.The supervisor went to the human resources office and told them that he hadn’t seen Arthur in the office for a while. HR cross-examined Asher’s internet traffic and found that he had been working in India since September 30, 2024.According to the Irish Times, PwC’s remote working policy allows for up to 30 days of overseas working time, and Asher has already exhausted this time.HR held a conference call with Ascher, who denied he was in India and insisted he worked from his home in Dublin. The supervisor who was also present asked him to come to the office the next day. But Arthur said he wouldn’t,Later that month Ascher finally gave in, admitting that he had been working in India for some time and could not return to Dublin because his landlord was selling accommodation and he did not want to work with a supervisor.When Asher was fired, he filed a petition with the Workplace Relations Commission against his firing and basically said he had permission from his supervisor to work in India, but he was fired anyway. The World Rally Championship adjudicator dismissed Ascher’s challenge because Ascher, who represented himself at the hearing, told the committee he had not mentioned to his employer that he was in India. He told the committee that he returned to India for family reasons.