Pune Coronavirus: PIL filed in Supreme Court against layoffs, salary cut in IT, ITeS, BPO sector
Pune, April 27, 2020: The National Information Technology Employees Sena (NITES), an IT union based in Pune, along with Adv Rajesh Inamdar has filed a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) in the Supreme Court Of India for all IT, ITeS, BPO KPO employees in India. In the wake of Covid-19 lockdown, several IT companies have taken unfair, unjust, drastic measures against employees.
Several advisories issued by the governments including the 20 March advisory by Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, 29 March GR by Gol, 31 March GR by CMO Maharashtra along with several state government resolutions directed employers of private and public companies to not terminate employees or cut their salaries. Information Technology (IT) companies have turned a deaf ear to these repeated pleas, assuming they fall outside the gambit of law & have abandoned their employees. Most employees who stay away from home are struggling with monthly rents, EMIs, daily expenses and other liabilities.
The PIL details how various private companies have initiated a drive of illegal mass termination of employees, withheld salaries or illegally deducted salaries in complete breach and violation of the advisories issued and taken advantage of the countrywide lockdown. Employees working in these companies for several years have been terminated telephonically without following the processes envisaged under various enactments viz Industrial Disputes Act and others, and hence, such terminations are illegal, unreasonable and based on convenience.
It has also been submitted that no official procedures like notice period, intimation to government authorities, payment of retrenchment compensation, payment of gratuity, leave encashment etc have been undertaken by the companies. NITES is committed to the welfare of all IT, ITeS, BPO, KPO employees and the protection of their fundamental rights. The economic and social impact of these unlawful activities will unprecedentedly impact our country and cannot be ignored, said NITES president Raghunath Kuchik, who is also Shiv Sena General Secretary, Bharatiya Kamgar Sena Chairman, Minimum Wages Advisory Board, Government of Maharashtra (State Minister Rank).
