After Bengaluru, Pune techies have termed layoffs as ‘illegal’

Around 25 Pune-based employees recently laid off by IT majors like Cognizant, Tech Mahindra and Wipro have taken the legal route against these companies, terming their termination as illegal.

These employees have filed separate petitions with the Maharashtra Commissioner of Labour against their former employers, stating that the termination wasn’t legal.

The petitions were filed through the Forum of IT Employees (FITE), an institution based in Chennai, which has also helped employees laid off in the cities of Chennai and Hyderabad take legal action.

In an emailed statement, Tech Mahindra said: "We continue to implement strategies to meet the changing demands of business in the current global economic environment. As a performance-driven organisation, we assess employee performance on a regular basis and take necessary actions."

Meanwhile, the Additional Commissioner of Labour Nikhil Walke has held a meeting with the Cognizant management and employees, asking them to be more transparent with the employees.

A Cognizant spokesperson said: "We reiterated that Cognizant has not conducted any layoffs and changes resulting from the company's performance review process are consistent with the standard practice that has been followed by the IT industry for many years. We continue to enhance our capabilities and hire for roles across all our practice areas in the company."

A common complaint that all laid-off employees had was that the companies didn’t care to do any written communication regarding the layoffs, and they were verbally asked to resign.

As per FITE representative Elavarasan Raja, FITE has been receiving over 500 calls a day from IT employees, asking for guidance.