Sacked techies seek govt help, say forced resignations illegal

HYDERABAD: A group of retrenched

professionals

gathered at an

IT Park

in the city on Friday to raise their voice against the recent happenings within the industry in Hyderabad and seek the state government's intervention in the matter.

While alleging that IT companies were retrenching employees in violation of the

Industrial Disputes Act

, the Shops and Establishments Act, the Gratuity Act and

the Payment of Wages Act

, the protesters demanded that the state government address the problem immediately by issuing a set of guidelines for IT firms.

“Over 25,000 people have been retrenched illegally in Hyderabad this year alone.And over the last three years, more than 1,00,000 people have been retrenched. This is only a fraction of the total number of IT employees who were retrenched across the country . There are multiple laws that have been enacted to protect the interests of the employees. However, the government has been lax in implementing these measures, while the corporate organisations pay no heed to them,“ said Kiran Chandra, founder member of the Forum of IT professionals.

Those present also alleged that there have been instances where employees were `incorrectly' terminated without proper cause or notice by IT companies in Hyderabad. “I had postponed a medical procedure by more than 9 months due to work pressure. I finally decided to apply for a sick leave to get the surgery done and while I was on this approved sick leave, I received a termination letter without any reason or cause mentioned in it,“ said the former employee of an IT firm.

“The resignations that have been obtained under force and coercion are legally void. The Forum of IT professionals hence demands that all companies stop these illegal activities. The government should address these illegalities in their white-paper and take strict action against law-breaker,“ Kiran added.

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