Labour Commissioner Demands Reply From Wipro Over Salary Cuts Complaints; Wipro Responds

The leading IT services firm Wipro benched around 300 employees during the nationwide lockdown, and as a result, their salaries had been slashed, most of whom are BPO employees. 

Last week, Maharashtra based IT union National Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) had complained about this to the Pune Labour commissioner.  Following this, the Labor Commissioner has issued a notice to Wipro.

As of now, the Labour Commissioner has asked Wipro to respond to a complaint filed against it in Pune.

Read to find out more…

What Exactly Happened?

Last week, according to Raghunath Kuchik, founder of NITES, the union received a lot of complaints from Wipro BPO employees about being put on the bench following certain projects slowing down on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter by NITES states that Wipro BPO located in Pune (Phase 2 Hinjewadi) has benched its employees starting 23 April 2020 and that the jobs of 300 employees have been put at risk. 

NITES said that this went against the government guidelines of not firing people or cutting salaries during the pandemic.

Harpreet Saluja, general secretary of the National Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) said, “This is a policy of companies to put employees on the bench. And, after 2-3 months, they force them to resign or terminate them illegally, stating that they are incapable of handling any new project.”

Meanwhile, the Wipro’s CFO, Jatin Dalal, had revealed that the company’s condition is worse than it was during the 2008 global financial crisis due to its unpredictability. The company has also halted revenue guidance due to the lack of clarity and deferred promotions and stopped wage hikes as well. 

In the past month, NITES has filed complaints against other IT firms like Capgemini and Amdoc in Pune around employee complaints on pay cuts. Following complaints to the labour office, at least two other companies — Autoone Engineering Services, which subcontracts for Tech Mahindra, and technology firm RNS Worldwide MSSP Pvt Ltd — have reversed their decisions to either lay off employees or hold salaries. 

Response Demanded From Wipro!

Earlier, a Wipro spokesperson had said, “The speculation related to the workforce is unfounded and has no basis. Wipro categorically denies these rumors. There are no salary cuts for employees who are in between projects and are awaiting new assignments. Also, the company wants to reiterate that there are no retrenchment plans. Wipro has well defined policies and people practices in place to take care of its employees. Separately, Wipro is yet to receive any communication from the Labour Department. The company will present the facts before the department, as and when required.”

Vikas Panvelkar, Deputy Commissioner of Labour, Maharashtra said, “We have not issued a show cause notice to the company, just forwarded a copy of the complaint against them and asked them to respond. We need both sides of the issue.”