After days of confusion and numerous reports on how American IT giant Cognizant was laying off a large number of employees, the case has been closed in the favour of the retrenched employees and the company has been asked to hold discussions with the workers and come up with a solution.
The relief comes after about eight employees had filed a plea with the labour department saying that Cognizant had sacked many of its employees on the basis of the annual performance appraisal.
"We have closed the case in favour of affected employees and suggested the company management to continue everybody and hold one—on—one discussion to resolve the issue," Telangana joint labour commissioner Chandra Shekaram told the Press Trust of India.
Additionally, the labour department has also asked the company's management to the give the employees an opportunity to prove themselves. "We have also advised the management to give all eight employees one more opportunity to prove their mettle," he added.
While the case has been closed in favour of the sacked employees, the labour department has asked the current employees not to resign as they will then lose their right to file any petition or move a court for the same. Out of the eight petitioners, three had resigned from the company and the labour department has asked them to withdraw the resignation.
Meanwhile, Cognizant has once again said that it has not conducted any layoffs or forced anyone to resign. A spokesperson for the firm said that performance based appraisals are conducted every year and are in tune with industry standards.
"Yesterday, a team from Cognizant met the joint commissioner of labour in Hyderabad," the Cognizant spokesperson said. "We reiterated that allegations about employees being forced to resign are totally unfounded. Cognizant has not conducted any layoffs and changes resulting from the company's performance review process are consistent with the standard practice that has been followed by the IT industry for many years."
Cognizant has said that it will hold talks with the employees and decide on further course of action. On the other hand, the labour department has said that in case the employees are not happy with Cognizant's measures it will look into the matter and take suitable action.
"If they revert to us, we will try to deal the case within the parameters of the Industrial Disputes Act and take stern action. If the company has been found violating, we will punish them," Chandra Shekaram said. "Generally, it is not easy to terminate an employee."
Apart from the layoffs, Cognizant has also come under the scanner for its voluntary separation offer that it is said to be making to its employees. While the company has said that the package is on a voluntary basis and is completely up to the employees to take it up or not, the move hasn't gone down well with many.
Defending its voluntary separation package, Cognizant said that this is the first time that the company has introduced an offer like this, whereas other firms have been doing it for years.
"As its name makes it clear, the VSP is voluntary. No one is required or even asked to participate. We believe, this programme benefits associates who have opted in and are seeking to make a change in their career," Cognizant president Rajiv Mehta told the employees in a letter.
