The union ministry of labour and employment has sent a second notice to IT services firm, Infosys and company executives to attend a discussion with the ministry executives on May 17.
According to an emailed communication from Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, Remis Tiru, to Krish Shankar, Group Head-Human Resources Infosys, the meeting is in reference to a public grievance made by Harpreet Singh Saluja, President Nascent IT Employees Senate NITES, alleging an arbitrary, unethical and illegal clause incorporated in the employment contracts of Infosys employees. A copy of the grievance letter by NITES has been attached to the email, according to the union ministry.
The first notice had been sent from the labour ministry office to the Bengaluru based firm to attend a discussion on April 28. Infosys had informed the labour ministry that it did not receive a copy of the grievance letter from NITES. The labour ministry has asked for written response from the Infosys in response to the grievance made by NITES, which must be submitted before May 16.
In view of the above, you are requested to make it convenient to attend the joint discussion personally or through an authorised representative who is familiar with the issue on the above-scheduled date, time and venue, as per the emailed communication from the ministry to Infosys Group Head HR Krish Shankar.
Business Today reached out to an Infosys spokesman over their response to the notice from the union labour ministry. The NITES received complaints from 100 Infosys employees about the employment contract that bars employees from working with rival companies within six months after their tenure at Infosys.
The employee contract, seen by BT, includes firms like IBM, Wipro, Accenture, Cognizant, and TCS, which the employees have been barred from working with for at least a year, and especially with clients on whose projects the employees worked on during their tenure at Infosys.
An Infosys spokesman said that it is standard business practice for employment contracts in many parts of the world to include controls of reasonable scope and duration to protect the confidentiality of information, customer connection and other legitimate business interests.
Infosys stated that these are fully disclosed to all job applicants before they decide to join Infosys, and do not have the effect of preventing employees from joining other organisations for career growth and aspirations.