Grant Thornton sued for ‘breach of contract’ by former executive

NEW DELHI: A former executive has sued Grant Thornton for alleged ‘breach of contract’ at a city civil court in Secunderabad on grounds that the UK-headquartered company reneged on certain terms in its employment offer to him.

GV Subrahmanyam, who was employed with the UK-headquartered company for five years until 2016, has claimed that he has not received bonuses assured to him at the time of his joining and is yet to receive salary arrears for the past two months of his employment.

“We deny the allegations made by Mr GV Subrahmanyam entirely and have suitably responded by way of our pleadings before the court,” a statement from Grant Thornton said. “However, given the matter is sub judice, we are unable to provide any further comment.”

Subrahmanyam worked with the government-focused consulting division of Grant Thornton as a partner from 2011 onwards till the time he quit. He was previously employed with rival audit firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers for 14 years.

In its statement to the Secunderabad court, the UK-based company that employs nearly 4,000 people in India, claimed Subrahmanyam did not meet revenue targets and was terminated from the services of one of its arms before he had completed a 3-year tenure that would have entitled him to receive bonuses claimed by him.

When contacted by ET, Subrahmanyam countered the allegations, claiming that he was transferred to another arm of the firm in accordance with his employer’s instructions.

“Hundreds of employees and partners were transferred from Grant Thornton (I) Advisory private limited to Grant Thornton (I) LLP in 2013 for business reasons for the convenience of GT,” Subrahmanyam said in a written statement to ET.

“It is now being projected as termination and not a transfer (and hence a discontinuity in service), thereby denying the employees their rightful benefits such as bonus, service continuity, gratuity benefits linked to service continuity, etc,” he said.