Hyderabad: HC issues notice to Tech Mahindra over 4 layoffs

Hyderabad: The High Court of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has issued notices to Tech Mahindra and the Telangana government on Monday on a writ petition filed by four employees of TechM who were allegedly terminated by the company.

The petition was filed by its four employees, as a result of which the court asked the Principal Secretary (Labour and Employment Department) of the Telangana government, Joint Commissioner of Labour Ranga Reddy and the IT firm to respond to the notices in three weeks, reports BL.

The petitioners have alleged that Human Resource department of the company was pressurising them to put their papers down and leave the company. In addition to this, they alleged that the company was doing a large scale of illegal layoffs at its Hyderabad facility.

The Forum of IT Professionals, an association of the IT employees appreciated the move of the High Court and felt that there were laws that can protect livelihoods of professionals.

Y Kiran Chandra, a member of the Association has said that over 80 petitions had been filed with the Telangana Labour Commissioner’s office and with the Development Commissioner (the Special Economic Zone) in the last one month by employees of various companies, challenging the terminations.

“According to the Telangana Shops and Establishments Act, 1988, no employee can be terminated if there is a pending petition with the Labour Commissioner,” he said.

Last week, a Human Resource executive of the company had forced an employee by saying: “If you don’t resign on your own, your services will be terminated tomorrow,” she warned.

Meanwhile, Mahindra group Chairman Anand Mahindra and Tech Mahindra Chief Executive Officer C P Gurnani apologised on Twitter for the way the staffer was handled.