ForIT slams Infosys over freshers layoffs, asks them not to resign

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Forum of IT Professionals (ForIT) has urged freshers at Infosys not to resign, while strongly condemning Infosys' actions in terminating hundreds of them claiming that they 'failed to clear the Infosys internal fresher evaluation test'.

ForIT claimed that Infosys had essentially put hundreds of people's lives and future prospects into chaos.

According to sources close to ForIT in the company and employees, the freshers undergoing training were under excessive pressure, which was causing concern at such a young age in their careers.

ForIT alleged that Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan made an irresponsible statement stating that layoffs cannot be avoided. His statement reads, "Lay-offs cannot be avoided. And while layoffs are undesirable, the practise cannot be avoided".

This is uncalled-for and just serves to demotivate employees. The company CEOs and sales teams who fail to get more projects are the ones who are responsible for the revenue shortage. Even if this were true, the firing should start at the top and not with the staff, who are the company's wealth generators, according to Praveen Chandrahas, General Secretary-ForIT.

Praveen said, "Fifteen out of a hundred engineers are joining the IT industry in recent times. After going through several exams/assessments and securing a job, they can't be made scapegoats by saying that they can’t further scale up. Employees should be given enough opportunities. We demand that the labour department should take a suo motu cognisance of the issue and reinstate their employment"

He adds, "A company which is having a gross profit of 11,757 crores in the last quarter (YoY CC revenue growth of 13.7%) should not kill the hopes in the future of the budding employees whose training cost is a tiny amount for the company. Section 47 of the Shops and Establishments Act lays down the rules and ensures that employees cannot be terminated based on the whims and fancies of the company. IT workers are subject to labour laws, and these companies are required to abide by them"

"The government should treat every violation as unlawful and take merit swift action. ForIT demands that Infosys immediately stops these illegal actions and takes back affected employees. The government must intervene immediately and ensure that jobs of IT employees are protected", said Praveen Chandrahas.

The Forum of IT Professionals is keen to help all employees who would be taking training in preparing for internal examinations. ForIT has appealed all the freshers to join them and fight for employment. If you or your friends are experiencing difficulties, please contact ForIT at +917673985813.