'Illegal onslaught on IT employees': Unions accuse TCS of violating Industrial Disputes Act over layoffs

IT employee unions across India have accused Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) of violating the Industrial Disputes Act, by openly laying-off 6,000 employees.

In a joint statement released on Sunday, Karnataka State IT/ITES Employees Union (KITU), Association of IT Employees (AITE) and Union of IT and ITES Employees (UNITE) urged the state and central governments "to take immediate responsibility for their failure to enforce labour laws and regulate IT companies, allowing corporations like TCS to exploit and mistreat employees with impunity."

"By openly accepting that it has retrenched 6,000 employees, TCS has admitted to a violation of the Industrial Disputes Act, which mandates proper procedure and prior government approval for such a mass termination. The government must immediately intervene to uphold the law of the land," the statement read.

According to Q2 FY26 data on its website, the company's headcount has dropped to 5,93,314 on September 30 compared to 6,13,069 on June 30, down by 19,755 people.

"'... the 20,000 headcount (reduction) is a factor of voluntary and involuntary attrition," TCS' newly appointed chief of human resources (CHRO) Sudeep Kunnumal said in a late evening investor call.

He hinted that the involuntary component in this is 6,000 employees who have been "released" and added that the company is halfway through its estimated reduction.

The employee unions, on the other hand, have disputed the claim that only 6,000 of the 38,255 departures were due to "involuntary attrition", and said that the company employed "cruel and illegal methods to force these employees out."

The statement alleged that employees were moved from projects to the bench without notice and then forced to resign, sometimes within an hour's notice.

"Female employees on maternity leave or those who had recently returned were forced to come to the office or threatened with resignation if they requested to extend their maternity benefits, further exacerbating their physical and emotional distress," the statement further added.

After the company disclosures on the headcount as of September 30, IT workers' union NITES had also accused TCS of downplaying large-scale layoffs through under-reporting.

TCS in a BSE filing on Q2 FY26 earnings omitted the details of total headcount and attrition figures (metrics that are standard part of the earnings docket), the factsheet uploaded on its website later showed a closing headcount of 5,93,314 employees in Q2 FY26.

(With PTI inputs)