BENGALURU: Thousands of employees from IT/ITes and BPO industry are awaiting the Supreme Court’s upcoming verdict on June 12 which would decide the fate of their employment and wages.
Earlier, the SC had reserved its order for a petition filed by a Karnataka based private firm, Ficus Pax in which the petitioner had challenged the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) advisory dated March 29 that directed the employers to pay wages to the employees during the 54 days period (effective for a period of 54 days). Additionally, the National Information Technology Employees Sena (NITES) also filed a separate petition in the apex court seeking action against firms that laid off employees during the
lockdown period.
Following the March 29 MHA advisory, the state labour departments had shot off notices to various companies directing them not to fire employees or reduce their wages during the lockdown. NITES General Secretary Harpreet Saluja who is also one of the petitioners, however, said that the association has received thousands of complaints from employees who have been retrenched or their salaries has been cut in violation of the notified guidelines
“Employers have gone ahead with layoffs, pay cuts despite the government order questioning the constitutional validity of the MHA advisory. There was some ambiguity over the earlier hearings due to which the companies fired employees and cut their salaries even during that stipulated 54 days period,” Saluja said.
The apex court has now reportedly sought details of the financial statements of companies who have laid off staff or denied them wages as as the Centre believes that “financial incapacity” is a legally untenable ground to challenge a direction issued by a authority in exercise of its statutory power. So far, companies such as Hexaware Technologies, Amdocs and Wipro have been accused of retrenchments during the lockdown.