[Exclusive] HCL Justifies Recovery Of Bonuses From Employees; Asks Labor Commissioner To Quash Case

In a twist of events, India’s leading IT firm HCL has justified their move to recover bonuses from the resigned employees. They have denied all wrongdoings, and have asked the Labor Commissioner to quash this case.

Note here, that HCL is right now fighting a case regarding the alleged illegal recovery of advanced bonuses paid to the employees, filed by Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate or NITES.

The case is still in progress, and in this blog, we will share the latest happenings, based on the information shared by NITES with us.

HCL: Perfectly Fine To Recover Bonuses

After the Labour Commissioner issued notice to HCL over the complaint filed by NITES on behalf of hundreds of employees, HCL has stated that there is absolutely no wrongdoings in ‘recovering’ the advanced bonus paid to the employees.

HCL has completely justified their move to recover the bonuses paid to the resigned employees, and they have argued that this ‘clawback’ of monies paid is part of their agreement with the employees.

Infact, HCL has asked the Labour Commissioner to immediately quash this case. 

But it seems that NITES will continue the fight.

NITES: We Will Get Justice For All HCL Employees

NITES has stated that they will continue the fight against the allegedly illegal recovery of bonuses by HCL, and they will not stop unless all the employees have received justice.

Harpreet Saluja, President, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate NITES said, “The company has falsely claimed that the bonus being recovered from employees of HCL Technologies Ltd is contractual bonus and not statutory bonus. 

As per law bonus needs to be paid as part of the settlement to the employee on a pro-rata basis, when he or she exits before the completion of the financial year. But the company has illegally recovered bonus amounts from employees forcefully by withholding their experience and relieving letters. To some employees the company has send letter of recovery and legal notices as well to recover the amount. 

However as per law if the bonus is performance based then there must be an agreement or settlement entered into between the employees and the company. 

The said bonus should be linked with production or productivity & the said payment should be in lieu of bonus based on profits. 

The company further has stated that “In view of the above approach adopted by the Company vis-à-vis claw back of monies paid as advance bonus to its employees, the Company has always ensured not to place any of its employees in a disadvantageous position and has undertaken steps/ measures to protect their employees’ interest.” 

But we have all the evidences as to how the company is harassing employees by sending them legal notices even for recovery of 7000 rs. The employer cannot unethically amend the bonus scheme depriving bonus to its employees. 

The employees resigned from the service also are entitled to bonus for their tenure. The said clawback policy implemented by the company to recover bonus already paid to its employees forcefully is iniquitous, arbitrary and harsh. 

It is also to be noted that such a recovery of policy without any statutory approval is resulting in a hardship and it far outweighs the equitable balance of the employer’s right to recover. We have full faith in the authorities and will keep striving hard until we get justice for all the HCL employees.”

The Case So Far

We reported earlier that HCL has started recovering the bonus paid to the resigned employees, and even blocking their relieving letters, in case any employees refuse to pay back the bonus.

After employees protested, HCL stopped this recovery of the bonus, and we hailed this as a victory for employees.

However, by the time HCL stopped this recovery process, hundreds of employees had already paid back the amount to HCL, and they were in for a huge loss.

After these employees complained to NITES or Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate, they filed a case with the Labor Commissioner, and HCL acknowledged the receipt of the case.

But with their replies, it seems that HCL hasn’t acknowledged any wrongdoings related to the ‘recovery’ of the bonuses.

We will keep you updated, as this case unfolds.