Layoffs have now become a common practice to conserve cash amid the coronavirus pandemic. Even though the governments have repeatedly asked organizations to not resort to job cuts, companies are rapidly laying off staff.
Recently, another IT-BPO company Amdocs laid off about 150 employees amid the coronavirus crisis, leaving employees stranded and helpless in such a situation.
Several of the estranged employees took to different social media platforms to share their ordeals. It is being said that the company had asked employees to leave the company via email and video conferencing.
What’s ethically wrong about this development was that these employees were working from their homes during the pandemic and are now not in a position to look for new employment. Also, these employees can’t have a direct conversation with the HR team of the company or even pick up their belongings from the office.
The act of laying off employees in such an unprecedented crisis is not only unethical but is being termed as illegal also, since the Maharashtra Govt has clearly stated that no employee should be fired during lockdown.
Taking cognizance of the situation based on numerous complaints filed by various employee unions, the Labour Commissioner of Pune has issued a notice to Amdocs management and has sought their reply on the matter.
One such complaint made by the National Information Technology Employees Sena, as shared by news portal Trak.in read,
“We are daily receiving complaints from employees of various IT and ITES companies. Keeping in view the Covid-19 pandemic Central Government as well as State government have issued an advisory to all the establishments that no employee shall be terminated from job and the wages shouldn’t be reduced. But a lot of IT companies are flouting the directions of the Central as well as State government. We received complaints from employees of Amdocs phursungi Pune that more than 150 employees are being terminated. The company is not replying to the queries of these employees. The company has not provided any relieving or experience letter to these employees. Under lockdown the employees are unable to appear for interviews and join any other company. Hence it has become extremely difficult for these employees to survive. National Information Technology Employees Sena NITES have submitted an official complaint to the Labour Commissioner Office Pune. Acting on complaint of NITES Labour Commissioner Office Pune has issued a notice to the Company.”
Although Amdocs management has clarified that such news about layoffs is untrue, there is significant evidence to prove this otherwise.
Posts and screenshots of emails shared by employees on social media and the complaints made by prominent unions like the Center of Indian Trade Unions have addressed the issue multiple times.
HrNxt.com Newsdesk has researchers and writers with an excellent domain knowledge about the talent ecosystem, and the business environment. The team keeps a tab on the latest happenings in the ecosystem to bring most relevant news and insights for our readers. You can connect with our newsdesk at newsdesk@hrnxt.com.