BENGALURU, 31 JULY

State Labour Minister Santosh Lad said that Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) decision to lay off over 12,000 employees was “alarming,” saying the government will look into leniency laws given to sunrise companies.

"Something unique this is because all of a sudden 12,000 people, that too TCS, is a very huge number… it is an alarming one; our people are talking to them… I will also get to know the reason beyond it… will look into labour law … leniency has always been given to sunrise companies," Lad said. “Will look into labour law leniency given to sunrise companies”.

This comes as the Labour Department reportedly sent a notice to the company after the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) filed a case of an industrial dispute.

KITU representatives had met Additional Labour Commissioner G Manjunath, “illegal mass retrenchment, demanding prosecution of the management for violations of the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, as well as the conditions imposed by the Government of Karnataka concerning the reporting of service particulars. KITU also demanded the initiation of criminal proceedings against the officials involved in the criminal act of forcing employees to resign.”

KITU said that it received several complaints from TCS employees claiming that the management was pressuring them to resign. Urging the employees not to resign, saying, “According to the Industrial Disputes Act, companies employing more than 100 workers are required to obtain prior approval from the government before carrying out any layoffs or retrenchments. Such retrenchments are permitted only for specific reasons…. This… has been violated by the TCS management, which has resorted to the criminal practice of forcing employees to resign.”