After coming under fire amidst claims of delaying the onboarding of freshers by nearly two years, IT giant Infosys has now come under the Labour Ministry’s scrutiny. This comes following multiple complaints filed by industry body Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) against the IT services company in this regard.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has now directed the Karnataka State Labour Commissioner’s Office to take appropriate action under relevant labour laws.
‘Expedite probe’
Harpreet Singh Saluja, the president of NITES, stated, “The Ministry has urged the Karnataka Labour Department to investigate and address the matter swiftly. This is a major step towards ensuring the protection of employee rights in the IT sector, particularly new graduates entering the industry,” adding that said graduates have been subjected to delayed onboarding and other unfair practices.
In a circular dated September 3, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, citing Saluja’s complaint dated August 20, directed the Karnataka government body to intervene to “protect the young graduates from exploitative practices carried out by the companies”. It added, “Since the appropriate government for action under Labour Law in this matter is the State government, you are requested to look into the matter and take suitable action under intimation to the applicant and this office.”
Background
In August, NITES had filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour and Employment against Infosys for alleged ‘exploitation and unprofessional treatment’ of over 2,000 engineering graduates, who were selected for the positions of System Engineer (SE) and Digital Specialist Engineer (DSE) during the 2022-23 recruitment drive.
“These graduates, after being issued offer letters as early as April 2022, have been subjected to continuous delays in the onboarding process, unpaid pre-training programs, and unexpected additional assessments,” Saluja had said.
However, on Tuesday, the industry body reported that Infosys had issued joining dates to all 2,000 graduates. Last week, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh assured that all offers extended to freshers would be honoured.
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