This US-based Fintech Company Suddenly Fires 400 Indian Employees In Pune; Employee Union NITES Terms It Illegal

It has emerged that FIS – Fidelity National Information Services has issued termination letters to its India employees. 

Less than a month’s time

This letter states that due to internal restructuring the role of workers has become redundant.

The termination will take effect from 30 Dec 2022 aka ‘Separation date’

It further said affected employees will get paid time-off until the ‘Separation date’.

Paid time off

So although they will continue to be on the company’s rolls till 30 Dec, they won’t be expected to return to their duty.

The company says that this time off should be used to explore other job opportunities outside FIS.

“In the meantime, FIS will also make sincere efforts to explore options of re-deploying you internally”, the mail reads.

Severance pay

Since the termination is due to redundancy, the affected workers will receive a severance calculated at the rate of 1 month of their base salary for every completed year of continuous service.

This will be paid within 5 working days from the ‘Separation date’. 

They are also entitled to receive payment in lieu of the balance days of the notice period ie. 45 days.

Union bashes move

Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate NITES, which is a union of IT employees in the country, said that it strongly condemns the unethical layoffs started by FIS.

Providing some context, NITES president Harpreet Singh Saluja said, “Last week CEO of FIS, Stephanie Ferris had stated that the company wants to cut costs as FIS shares have fallen 44% this year.”

It accused the company of having “violated provisions of Industrial Disputes Act and is aiming to restore investor confidence by reducing head count arbitrarily.” 

Illegal? Unethical?

The termination letter sent to employees states that due to internal restructuring the role of workers has become redundant.

NITES alleged, “The company under the pretext of redundancy is laying off employees illegally and unethically”.

It promised it will “let no stone unturned to provide justice to aggrieved employees.”