IT employee union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has submitted a complaint against the Karnataka State Labour Department for allegedly exercising “bias” towards Infosys, in addressing the complaints over delayed onboarding of over 2,000 campus hires.
“An email was sent to NITES from Dr G Manjunath, Additional Labour Commissioner (Industrial Relations), seeking the details of grievances from young engineering graduates from Infosys. After collecting the data on 16 September, NITES attached the details in its response to the State Labour Ministr,” NITES said in its complaint to the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
It noted that despite providing evidence, the department concerned failed to address the grievances of these graduates transparently. “Their response to the Central Labour Commission (CLC) has been misleading, falsely claiming our response was ‘lacking in information.’ This is a blatant disregard for the facts and a clear attempt to shield Infosys from accountability.”
Background
On 20 August 2024, NITES had submitted a complaint to the Ministry of Labour and Employment against the company. It argued that the graduates were selected for various roles in the 2022-23 recruitment drive, but were issued their offer letters only in September 2024. The Ministry, on September 3, directed the Karnataka State Labour Commissioner’s Office to take action under relevant labour laws.
The additional labour commissioner of Karnataka, on September 20, wrote to the Centre apprising the latter of a meeting held on September 12, with Infosys members like Vardharaj, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Talent Acquisition; Sudhir Mishra, Associate Vice President of Talent Acquisition; Vanditha Srikanth, Senior Principal of Employee Experience; Raghavendra Kadkol, Senior Principal of Employee Relations; and Pranshu Bhutra, Senior Corporate Counsel.
The official hinted that an email was sent to NITES president Harpreet Singh Saluja the same day, requesting information regarding grievances reported by graduates. The letter called the information received from NITES on September 16 as “lacking in information, with specific grievances of the graduates from Infosys not enclosed,” the letter read.
NITES’ letter also noted that Infosys had written to the State official the same day as the meeting. “We understand the concerns were related to specific graduates selected for system engineer and digital specialist engineer roles at Infosys, during the 2022-23 freshers’ recruitment drive and associated virtual pre-training program in July 2024. We wish to submit that the allegations are patently false. These graduates have received the date of joining with Infosys,” the company had said.
‘No action despite sharing details’
“NITES strongly condemns the Karnataka State Labour Ministry’s gross negligence in handling the grievances raised by NITES and IT graduates, displaying a blatant disregard for their rights and welfare. We even provided detailed and comprehensive information regarding the grievances faced by these graduates, including their names, email addresses, contact numbers, and offer letter dates,” said Saluja.
He added that NITES sent a document to the Karnataka State Labour Ministry outlining the specific cases of numerous graduates who have still not received their joining dates from Infosys, despite being offered employment. “This is a clear violation of their contractual obligations and a breach of trust.”