Labour Department blamed for not acting against erring call centres

All companies have been told to provide transport services to women employees working at night: Home Minister

The Department of Home has blamed the “laxity” of the Labour Department in acting against call centres that do not provide women workers transportation in the night, for the attacks on employees.

Home Minister K.J. George told presspersons on Friday that a decision had been taken to send a circular to the Department of Labour to act sternly against those call centres that have flouted norms.

On the night of October 3, a 23-year-old woman was gang-raped by two men in a mini-bus after they picked her up on the pretext of dropping her home in Bengaluru. “Directions have been issued to all the companies to provide transport services to women employees working at night, even if their number is just 15,” said Mr. George.

He said the failure of the Labour Department to crack down on companies that failed to provide statutory facilities to women employees, as well as those operating illegally (the BPO where the victim worked, for instance, was not registered under the Karnataka Shops and Establishments Act, 1961) had been taken note of.

The Labour Department, in turn, has shot off letters to the Information Technology and Biotechnology Department requesting it to “find a way” of conducting inspections on erring IT/ITES firms.

“The IT sector has been exempted from random inspections from the Labour Department. We can only send notifications to these companies, but we cannot ensure they adhere to them … We have asked the IT Department to sort out this issue by suggesting joint inspections or any other consolidated plan,” said a Labour Department official.