Following complaints of sexual harassment levelled against a senior Infosys executive by women employees, the board of directors of IT services company Infosys has reprimanded the top manager after an inquiry.
The company called it a case of “gender insensitivity”, and not sexual harassment as alleged by the women employees.
However, sources said on Friday that the women employees who had lodged the complaint against the senior executive are alleging that the board of the company is trying to “hush up the matter”. It is reliably learnt that the accused executive has “contested” the findings and continues to fulfill his professional responsibilities.
A group of women employees had sent the complaint to the company’s board of directors alleging sexual harassment, upon which the company initiated an enquiry by an internal committee to look into the allegations.
In a statement on Friday, Infosys said, “We take every sexual harassment complaint very seriously and each case is thoroughly and expeditiously investigated. Swift and appropriate actions are taken in all such cases. Keeping in view the privacy aspects we do not share particulars of individual cases.”
As per the Vishaka Guidelines on procedural guidelines in cases of instances of sexual harassment in India, all companies should have an internal committee to look into such allegations against women employees.
Infosys stated that, “The company prides itself in the diversity of its workforce and equal opportunity work environment for its employees.”
The Bangalore-based IT giant refused to give more information on the kind of inquiry which was conducted, the exact nature of the complaint and the findings of the committee.
In a more high profile case in 2002, Infosys had dismissed Phaneesh Murthy, then heading its global sales division, on charges of sexual harassment.