Cognizant faces action from IT workers’ union over layoffs

‘Don’t resign under pressure from HR,’ KITU tells tech staff

July 02, 2020 10:43 pm | Updated 11:16 pm IST - Bengaluru

New Cognizant Building in Navallur, near Chennai.(to go with Raje's story)Shaju John

New Cognizant Building in Navallur, near Chennai.(to go with Raje's story)Shaju John

Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) said it had initiated legal action after receiving complaints from dozens of technology workers who had lost their jobs or were faced with the prospect of lay offs at Cognizant.

Cognizant employees who had been put in a “forced resignation” mode at facilities in Bengaluru, Chennai and other cities had reached out to KITU with multiple employment woes, the IT workers’ body said on Thursday.

“Several victimised employees approached KITU, and the Union has initiated legal action against Cognizant and its management for this illegal action,” said KITU Secretary Sooraj Nidiyanga.

“Performance management is a normal process across the IT industry, including Cognizant... we would like to clarify that recent third-party allegations regarding a specific number of job actions are not accurate, not based on facts, and were not announced by Cognizant,” a Cognizant spokesperson said.

Companies that employ more than 100 people need prior approval from the Labour Department to execute layoffs as per labour rules, Mr. Nidiyanga asserted.

“Rebranding a layoff by arguing that employees voluntarily resigned when they were, in fact, forced to resign, is also against the law. We urge all affected employees to refuse to resign if asked to do so,” he added.

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