PIL in SC seeks protection of employees facing salary cuts, termination

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court for a direction to the Centre and all states to protect to all such employees, facing salary cuts, and termination following the unprecedented lockdown situation out of COVID-19 in the country.

Advocate Rajesh Inamdar and Harpreet Saluja, general secretary National Information Technology Employees Sena, wanted the government to ensure that employers in the private sector at least make payment of a subsistence salary to the employees, without terminating them unreasonably and illegally against their rights under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution.

"Although, government is taking necessary steps to provide possible assistance to the needy on priority like daily wagers, migrant workers, small businesses, the corporate employers have been reluctant and are acting inhuman in fulfilling their duty towards the nation and assist it by ensuring timely payments of full wages and salaries," they said.

They also wanted initiation of action against all such companies under Section 51 and 58 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 which were in breach of orders and advisories issued by the Ministry Labour and Employment on March 29 and the Union government on March 29, 2020.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and B R Gavai would take up the petition filed by advocate Amit Pai on May 8, Friday.

The petitioners said that the economic and social impact of unregulated mass terminations and delayed payment of salaries or pay cuts would be extremely severe and would have a very large and serious human impact particularly on several thousand people in the bracket of the middle class.

The employees working in various IT/ITES companies for over several years have been informed over phone calls about their termination without even following the procedure envisaged under various enactments viz Industrial Disputes Act etc. Moreover, such terminations are illegal, unreasonable, and based on convenience, they said in their petition.

The petitioners claimed no procedure like notice period, intimation to government authorities, payment of retrenchment compensation, payment of gratuity, leave encashment, etc. has been undertaken by the Companies. Even though the employees were in no way responsible for the present situation, but they were at the receiving end.

"Mass termination and the withholding of the salaries of the employees during these severe times is contrary to public policy, and directly affecting the right to livelihood of several persons," they contended.

The petitioners also wanted immediate financial assistance to all such employees whose companies have been closed after the lockdown.