BENGALURU : A company that manages the BBMP Sahaya control room, which handles COVID-related calls, has allegedly, ironically terminated the services of 11 employees for isolating themselves at home after two of them tested COVID-positive.
After the two staffers from the 2 pm to 10 pm shift of the control room turned positive recently, the remaining nine employees asked for home isolation for a few days to be on the safer side. But the company - Transact BPO Services India - allegedly did not agree.
The staffers anyway went ahead and isolated themselves, and the company has now terminated their services and also withheld their salaries. The company is said to have not spared the two employees who tested positive too.
A terminated employee, who requested anonymity, said, "The company said it is a government service and cannot give leave. We waited, hoping they would reverse the termination decision, but neither did that happen, nor did we get our pending salary. I have a family of four to support."
Some of those who were laid off have returned to their hometowns. Another ex-employee said they asked for a week's leave and did not get it. Now, he is out of a job and being the only earning member of the family, he is finding it extremely difficult to manage.
A third ex-employee said though the company did not give leave, he took a day off to get a test done. When he went to work the next day, the Human Resources Department allegedly told him that the vacant post had been filled. One of the two ex-employees who tested positive said that he got the termination letter by email after he recovered from the virus.
Darshan Chinappa, founder and director at Transact Global, said he was not aware of the issue. "The company has always acknowledged that if any staff member tests positive, he will be provided the work from home option," he said. BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said that he would ask Special Commissioner (Health) Randeep D to look into the matter.
"At the peak of COVID pandemic, the staff strength was increased at all zonal war rooms and the control room to handle the massive load of calls. Now that the second wave has subsided, the requirement may have gone down leading to layoffs," Gupta said.
There is a method for retrenchment under the Industrial Disputes Act involving an inquiry into misconduct, one month's notice, and more, said Maitreyi Krishnan, lawyer and activist with the All-India Central Council of Trade Unions.
She said that a circular issued by the government dictates that wages cannot be deducted if employees get COVID. "This is a clear case of victimisation. Withholding earned wages is also illegal," Krishnan said.