'Honesty and loyalty has no meaning': Bengaluru professor resigns after getting no salary hike despite serving 10 years, netizens say 'not paying EPF is illegal'

A 37-year-old professor at an engineering college in East Bengaluru in Bengaluru has resigned from his position as Assistant Professor after 10 years, citing the lack of a salary hike as the primary reason for his decision. The professor, who goes by the name of "SquashImmediate6693" on Reddit, expressed his disappointment and frustration with the institution's treatment of its faculty members.

He announced his resignation, stating that "honesty and loyalty have no meaning in this world." The professor also said he tried to speak with the principal before resigning, but the principal wouldn't discuss anything without the head of department (HOD) present.

The user mentioned that everything was fine until 2019 when a new principal took over, resulting in the closure of three branches at the college.

In the post, the user stated that even though he received great feedback from students and made personal sacrifices, such as paying for competition fees and working extra hours, his requests for a salary raise were consistently ignored.

He claimed that his situation worsened with the arrival of a new principal in 2019. Despite his extra efforts, like staying late, working on Sundays, and covering student competition costs himself, the principal never approved his salary increase request. He also said that junior teachers were earning more than he was.

Sharing his agony, he said, “I did everything and I never said no to any job assigned, but my request to increase salary was never approved. Students were happy with my teaching. I received consistently excellent feedback from my students. I was helping students with hackathons and competitions. Many times I paid entry fees from my pocket for many competitions. During NBA and NAAC accreditation, I used to stay till 8-9 PM in the evening. We worked on Sundays too. Juniors were paid more than me. I was clueless. I couldn’t understand what mistake I was making.”

He further wrote, “Entire college knew what I was doing but our principal was not ready to acknowledge it. I met him to discuss before resigning and he was not ready to discuss anything with me in the absence of our HOD. This HOD always supported 3-4 faculty and he was delegating difficult tasks to rest of us. I was fed up with this system and resigned recently. Nobody asked why I was resigning and nobody asked me to stay. Honesty and loyalty have no meaning in this world!”

"I was not paid any EPF, and recently, the salary structure was changed. DA was reduced from 115% to 30%, and the remaining 85% was added to other allowances. This reduces my gratuity by at least 50%!" the user said.

The professor also noted that his salary structure was altered, his dearness allowance was reduced, his gratuity was cut, and he didn't receive any EPF payments.

Before resigning, the professor tried to talk to the principal about his issues, but the principal insisted on having the HOD present. The HOD favored certain faculty members and assigned challenging tasks to others, including the professor.

“Nobody asked why I was resigning, and nobody asked me to stay!” the professor said.

A lot of Reddit users came in support of him and suggested a few things that could be of great help. “Not paying EPF is illegal. Please find a way to sue them through proper channels. Ask in the Legal India sub about your options,” a user commented. Another one wrote, “Gather more details about all the events and incidents. Get them in writing if possible. Use multiple channels and other experiences if possible. As they say - When all you have is a needle to fight your battle, shoot it in the heart of your enemy. Make a compelling story and share it,” commented someone else."

“Teachers in all levels of the education sector are overworked with little to no compensation. The fact is we are replaceable, institutions do not care about your quality of teaching. They know they can replace you with a cheaper option,” a comment read.