NEW DELHI: The St Stephens Hospital management, which sacked some of its support staff from its Gurgaon facility after the coronavirus outbreak, has agreed in the Delhi High Court to pay these employees an amount equal to their salary for March and April.
Justice Rekha Palli on Monday held that the hospital would be bound by its statement to pay these amounts to its sacked employees for the months of March and April and listed the matter for further hearing on May 4.
The order came on the ex-employees’ plea challenging their termination by the hospital management, on March 30, after it shut down its Gurgaon facility.
The ministries of labour and home affairs, represented by central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, supported the petitioners and said that their services should not have been terminated at this stage when the country was facing the COVID-19 pandemic and there was urgent requirement of people engaged in healthcare.
A similar stand was taken by the Delhi government’s labour department which was made a party on the oral request of the petitioners.The hospital management, in its defence, said the termination had nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic and it was a decision taken in the first week of March, much before the government issued advisories not to terminate casual or contractual staff.
The petitioners, in their plea, contended that the decision was in violation of the advisories issued by the labour ministry on March 20 and March 23 which had “specifically directed that persons engaged contractually or casually with either public or private establishments not be terminated during the coronavirus outbreak”.
With agency inputs