Infosys Layoffs: The central ministry has now written a letter to Karnataka for the second time in the matter of large-scale layoffs at Infosys’ Mysore campus. The IT Employees Union and the fired trainees have complained in this matter. Know what the Karnataka government did after the Centre’s intervention for the first time? What do the company, the fired trainees and the IT Employees Union have to say?
Infosys layoffs: The Union Ministry of Labor and Employment has sent a second letter to the Labor Commissioner of Karnataka in the case of mass layoffs of trainees at Infosys. The central ministry has asked Karnataka to intervene in the case of mass terminations at Infosys’ Mysore campus. In a letter sent to the state on February 25, the Center has requested that necessary action be taken in this matter and the complainant as well as the Center should be informed about what happened in this case. The complaint has been made by Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), a union of permanent IT employees in Pune, as well as more than 100 former Infosys trainees who were terminated.
What did Karnataka do for the first time on central instructions?
Earlier, when the central ministry had written a letter to Karnataka in this matter, officials of the Karnataka Labor Department had visited Infosys’ Bangalore and Mysore campuses. There they took stock after reports of layoffs of trainees. The Central Labor Ministry had asked the Karnataka Labor Commissioner and Labor Secretary to investigate the matter and take immediate necessary steps to resolve the dispute. When Karnataka government officials reached there regarding this, the company officials said that it was necessary to remove poor performers to maintain high quality. Infosys fired about 400 trainees after they failed the evaluation test in three consecutive attempts, which was about half of the trainees onboarded in October 2024.
What do both sides have to say?
NITES held a press conference on this matter on 26 February in which some of the laid-off people also shared their experiences. IT Employees Union President Harpreet Singh Saluja has alleged that it is possible that last year the Labor Ministry of the Karnataka government tried to save Infosys by citing the absence of names of employees, but this time the matter has been taken to the Central Labor Ministry as well. All the employees affected by the layoffs have shared their problems with both the state and central governments. The President of the IT Employees Union says that if the government does not take appropriate action in this matter, then large-scale protests will be held outside the Infosys Mysore campus.
A former trainee has alleged that the company had enrolled all the trainees under the Central Government’s National Apprenticeship Training Scheme under which the trainee gets Rs 9,000 for 12 months but the company did not pay the full amount as they were fired after about four months after several rounds of exams. In the press conference, the trainees said that Infosys did not even tell them that there is negative marking in the assessment. It is also alleged that after being fired, they did not even receive a relieving letter.
On these allegations, the company says that it believes in the high quality of employees and its training program is highly recognized worldwide. The company says that every trainee is aware of the performance evaluation at the time of joining. Apart from this, every trainee fills the apprenticeship registration form at the time of joining in which the entire cost of training is borne by the company. Regarding negative marking, the company says that this is in the evaluation policy document and the trainee is also informed at the time of induction. The company also says that all eligible trainees have received relieving letters after leaving the company. Apart from this, they have also received outplacement services, severance pay and counseling.
