Less than 3% of about 1,800 information technology (IT) and information technology enabled services (ITeS) companies operating in the State is learnt to have reported compliance with the government in setting up internal committees to address cases of sexual harassment at the workplace.
One of the four conditions imposed on the sector when it received exemption from applicability of Standing Orders, which formally define conditions of employment, was the constitution of internal committees as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. “So far, only 48 companies of the 1,800 IT and ITeS companies in Karnataka have informed the government about having set up the committees. Others may or may not have done it, but we have not received compliance reports,” sources in the Labour Department told The Hindu .
This was even after the Labour Department served notices to 1,800 companies asking them to file compliance to the four conditions for exemption from Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946. The IT/ ITeS/startups/animation/gaming/computer graphics/telecom/BPO/KPO and other knowledge-based industries have been exempted from applicability.
The other three conditions are: forming grievance redressal committee to address any complaint by employee; intimating the Labour Department on disciplinary action like suspension, discharge, termination, demotion and dismissal; and sharing of data related to workplace when sought by the government. The department has not got compliance report on any of these conditions from many companies, despite being given reasonable time, said sources. In terms of these three conditions, there has been zero compliance, sources added.
While the trade union bodies have cried foul over the way in which several hundreds of IT/ITeS employees having been retrenched or forced into involuntary resignations in recent years, the Labour Department has not received any data on such issues.
“The companies have refused to share this data as well. While they get benefits of exemption, they are violating the conditions that have been imposed on them. Government has no database about the IT workforce and its service conditions,” sources said.
Labour Secretary Amlan Aditya Biswas confirmed that the notices had been issue to the IT companies about non-conformity to conditions laid down by the government while extending exemption to the companies.
Many did not get holiday for polls
The government was forced to issue show-cause notices to IT and ITeS companies after the Assembly elections in May last year when several companies did not declare holiday on the election day to enable its employees to vote. “Most companies worked on that day citing exemptions given to them. When the then Labour Commissioner went to inspect if companies had declared holiday or not, she was not even allowed to enter the premises of some companies,” said a top government source.
