IT services giant Infosys has been served a notice by the Union Labour Ministry in connection with a complaint filed by the employee union Nascent IT Employee Senate (NITES) which had alleged violation of labour laws by the Bengaluru-based tech firm.
According to the notice, which was addressed to Krish Shankar, Infosys' group head at the human resources department, states, “It has been decided to hold a joint discussion on the issue before the Chief Labour Commissioner, Ministry of Labour & Employment on April 28, 2022.”
Apart from labour ministry and Infosys officials, NITES representatives have also been called to attend the meeting.
A query has been sent by BT to Infosys. The story will be updated as and when the company responds.
NITES' General Secretary, Harpreet Saluja told Business Today that nearly 100 Infosys employees approached the union with respect to a non-compete clause present in Infosys' employee contracts that bars the employees from working with rival companies within six months after their tenure at Infosys.
The employee contract, which was seen by BT, includes firms like TCS, Wipro, Accenture, Cognizant, and IBM as the "named competitors" where the employees have been barred to work with for at least a year, and also especially with clients on whose projects the employees worked during their tenure at Infosys.
The NITES, in its communication to the labour ministry, had called this non-compete clause unethical and in violation of Section 27 of the Contract Act.
"Although these clauses were a part of the contract for a few years, they were never really implemented. It is only after the attrition rate zoomed to 27.7 per cent in Q4 FY22 from 25.5 per cent in the previous quarter that the company began to follow this clause,” Saluja added.
An Infosys spokesperson had in an earlier statement said that it is a standard business practice in many parts of the world for employment contracts to include controls of reasonable scope and duration to protect the confidentiality of information, customer connection and other legitimate business interests.
"These are fully disclosed to all job aspirants before they decide to join Infosys, and do not have the effect of preventing employees from joining other organisations for career growth and aspirations," Infosys had said.