By Anirudha Yerunkar

Copyright india

India’s largest IT services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has come under criticism after the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) alleged that the company forced nearly 2500 employees in Pune to resign.
In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis NITES President Harpreet Singh Saluja urged immediate government intervention to safeguard the interests of the affected staff.
Saluja said based on NITES representation the Union Labour Ministry has directed the Maharashtra labour secretary to take necessary action in the matter.
Sadly despite this directive the ground reality has become even more distressing. In Pune alone nearly 2500 employees have been forced to resign or have been abruptly removed in recent weeks NITES said.
TCS On Layoffs In Pune
Responding to the claims TCS clarified that only a small section of employees had been impacted as part of an internal initiative to realign workforce skills denying large-scale forced resignations.
When contacted TCS said The misinformation shared here is inaccurate and purposefully mischievous. Only a limited number of employees have been affected by our recent initiative to realign skills in our organisation.
Those who have been affected have been provided due care and severance as is due to them in each of the individual circumstances.
The company in June announced to lay off about 2 per cent or 12261 employees of its global workforce this year with the majority of those impacted belonging to middle and senior grades.
How Is Layoff Impacting Employees?
NITES said the affected employees are not just numbers; they are mothers and fathers breadwinners caregivers and the backbone of thousands of households across Maharashtra.
Many of those affected are mid- to senior-level professionals who have given 10-20 years of dedicated service to the company. A large number are over 40 years of age burdened with EMIs school fees medical expenses and responsibilities towards ageing parents. For them finding alternative employment in today’s competitive market is almost impossible NITES said.
It said that the education of children of affected employees is at risk and loans may go unpaid and households face emotional trauma and financial collapse.
The IT employees body has alleged that TCS has not paid any statutory retrenchment compensation to the employees and staff are being coerced into voluntary resignations under fear and pressure.
It has demanded that Maharashtra Chief Minister to stand with the affected families in their darkest hour and direct the states labour department to immediately investigate and stop the alleged illegal terminations.
The employed body has requested Fadnavis to ensure that every affected employee is given their lawful rights under the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 halt all further terminations until due legal process is followed and hold the companys top management accountable for their disregard of law and humanity.
(With Inputs From PTI)