The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), an IT employees union, has written to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking urgent intervention in what it calls illegal mass layoffs at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), particularly in Pune. NITES noted in its letter that while the Union Ministry of Labour had already forwarded its complaint to the state labour department in August, no concrete action has followed, and the situation has worsened.
TCS refutes allegations: A ‘Misinformed’ realignment
TCS, in an email response to queries sent by FE, has denied the allegations, calling them misinformed and inaccurate.
“The misinformation shared here is inaccurate and purposefully mischievous. Only a limited number of employees have been affected by our recent initiative to realign skills in our organisation. Those who have been affected have been provided due care and severance, as is due to them in each of the individual circumstances,” the IT major said.
In July this year, TCS had announced a revamp of its workforce, an exercise which it said will result in 2% of its global workforce being laid off. This translates to a little over 12,000 employees across geographies.
Human cost and alleged legal violations
According to NITES’ letter, nearly 2,500 employees in Pune have been forced to resign or abruptly terminated in recent weeks, many of them being mid- to senior-level professionals with over a decade of service. NITES has highlighted the severe financial and emotional impact on families, pointing out that a large share of those affected are over 40 years old, saddled with home loans, school fees, medical costs, and caring for elderly parents — making re-employment difficult.
NITES has also alleged that these exits violate the Industrial Disputes Act,1947, as no government notice has been issued, no compensation paid, and employees are being coerced into “voluntary resignations.”