As per the inquiry report, the actual number of sanctioned posts was only 40, while the remaining were appointed without the approval of the said authorities. According to the additional director, Women and Child Development Department, the DCW had no authority to appoint these employees on contract; that no assessment was made to understand the actual need of these additional employees; and that no clear guidelines/processes were followed to hire or gauge the eligibility or suitability of the candidates either.

It has also been pointed out that no applications were issued for the posts and no sanction was sought for the budget to employ these employees from the Delhi government. It was also highlighted that the said employees were neither assigned any tasks nor given any formal responsibilities or roles.

Meanwhile, Maliwal has pointed out on social media that out of the existing 90-strong staff at DCW, only eight have been appointed by the Government the rest being hired for three-month contracts. Her post drew attention to the fact that if all the contract staff of DCW were terminated, the Commission will have no employees left, and would have to stop functioning altogether.

The post Delhi LG terminates 223 from Delhi Commission for Women appeared first on HR Katha.

The High Court further ordered that those appointed beyond the official number of 24,640 vacancies, after the official date of recruitment had expired, and those who submitted blank Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets and yet were appointed, were to return all remunerations and benefits received by them with 12 per cent interest per annum within four weeks.

The West Bengal government, however, has now approached the Supreme Court to challenge the order. In fact, it is considering paying the salaries of the concerned teachers and non-teaching staff till the SC gives its verdict.

Therefore, over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff appointed and working in the schools aided or sponsored by the state government may receive their salaries for April even though their appointments were cancelled by the Calcutta HC. After all, they have worked for almost the entire month of April.

It is pertinent to mention here that the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) had submitted a list of candidates to the High Court in whose case irregularities had emerged in the recruitment process. The irregularities were related to Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheet manipulation and rank jumps. This list had about 5,300 names. However, the HC was not satisfied with this list.

The post Will WB government pay April salaries to teachers & non-teaching staff? appeared first on HR Katha.

The two employees, who were upset with the work pressure, decided to teach their senior a lesson. They hired goons to beat him up. What is even more scary is that it all happened in broad daylight, in the middle of a busy street in Kalyan Nagar. The video of the assault on the manager with an iron rod has naturally gone viral on social media.

While the video is rather disturbing and has set social media abuzz, what is even more worrisome is that managers and team leaders are knowingly or unknowingly driving their team members to the edge. Imagine how frustrated and helpless the duo would have felt to take such a drastic measure.

Toxic bosses have been a nightmare for employees, globally. Recently, three residents from Tamil Nadu escaped their cruel employer in Kuwait. The best part is that they used their boss’ fishing trawler to get away,opting for the sea route. They were spotted on the Mumbai coast by the police, and detained. The aggrieved trio had not been paid by their boss for some time. As if that wasn’t enough, they were assaulted by their employer. They had to escape via sea because the Indian embassy failed to help them and the local police did not support them either.

The post Manager pays price for pressurising employees to work hard appeared first on HR Katha.

In 2022, a separate cadre review committee or CRC had been formed by the Central government to study the surging need for manpower across various ministries/departments. This committee had been entrusted with the work of mooting measures to improve cadre management and ensure that the employees of the Central Secretariat are promoted on time.

When employees fail to get promoted, it affects their career progression and also results in them losing out in terms of pensions when they retire from service.

The CSS officers, represented by the CSS Forum, have written to the secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) threatening to carry out a peace march if the government fails to fulfil their demands.

The Forum is aware that the review committee has submitted its report long ago, but the government is yet to act upon it. Meanwhile, the delay has resulted in many officers retiring without being promoted.

To make the government pay attention to their plight, the CSS officers are planning to hold a peace march at Shastri Bhawan on 7 March, at Nirman Bhawan on 11 March and at North Block on 13 March.

If the government still fails to do the needful to address the issues raised by the CSS officers, the latter plan to begin a non-cooperation movement.

The post CSS officers to hold peace march; threaten non-cooperation appeared first on HR Katha.

As per the empanelment policy, the confidential reports or CRs of women officers who have been granted permanent commission have to be taken into account for their promotion to the rank of Colonel. The policy demands that more weightage be given to the CRs than other things. In fact 89 out of 100 marks are set aside for CRs when permanent officers are being considered for promotion.

Disappointed women officers had brought to the Court’s notice that the manner in which their CRs were assessed for promotion was unfortunately different from the way the CRs of the male officers were assessed. As a result, the CRs of women officers from the 1995 to 2005 batches had not been appropriately considered, with their complete profile not being taken into account. According to the Court, this was unjust since the women officers had worked equally hard and had a right to the same entitlements as the male officers.

A significant portion of the CRs of the women officers were apparently not included alleging equality reasons with the male officers, while the policy framework provides for all the CRs post nine years of service be taken into account. The Defence Ministry, on the other hand, maintained that the procedure followed by the Special Selection Board (SSB) 3 was different from other SSBs. The former took just one look at the candidate whereas the others took three. Also, the Ministry claimed that the women officers’ profiles were matched with that of their own female batchmates and not with their male batchmates.

However, the SC observed that the

Army was doing ‘disservice’ to the women officers by looking for ways to deprive them of what they were entitled to. It ruled that the manner in which “applicants have been denied empanelment is arbitrary”, as reported by LiveLaw.

The post ‘Indian Army discriminatory towards women officers’: SC appeared first on HR Katha.

The firms had been accused of depriving their drivers of a huge amount of money over the years, which the drivers should have been paid in terms of wages and benefits. To be precise, during the period 2014 to 2017, the two ride-hailing firms had deducted sales tax as well as Black Car Fund fees from the wages of drivers, violating laws that required them to charge the same to passengers.

When this issue was brought to their notice, the two entitites managed to wrongfully convince the drivers by providing wrong information. Uber even assured its drivers that it would be minusing only its own commission from the drivers’ fares and that the drivers were free to charge their passengers any other fee they require, including taxes and toll fee. What made this violation more serious was that there was no provision in the company’s app for the drivers to charge the same.

Additionally, both Uber and Lyft will now be granting paid sick leave to their drivers outside New York City, while the drivers within New York City will henceforth enjoy an hourly wage of $26. The two firms had earlier deprived the drivers of paid sick leave, which was available only to the drivers in NewYork City.

The post Wage theft costs Uber, Lyft $328 million appeared first on HR Katha.

Akasa Air has decided to drag 43 pilots to court for joining Air India Express, owned by the Tata Group, without serving their six months’ notice period. The airline is now seeking Rs 22 crore from these pilots as compensation.

The carrier has told the Delhi HC that it is undergoing a crisis situation and may have to shut shop because 43 of its pilots left and joined Air India Express without completing their notice period.

The airline filed a petition in the Bombay High Court too demanding that its pilots pay Rs 22 crore in compensation because the airline claims to have spent that amount on training these pilots and in strengthening its operations. Since August, the airline has had to cancel many of its flights because it was short of pilots.

According to the airline, its ire is targeted at only a few pilots who just ditched the airline without bothering to serve their notice period, which is a part of their work agreement. These pilots violated their contracts as well as the rules of civil aviation. By doing so, the airline accuses these pilots of going against ethics and the law and causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers. Akasa feels that the behavior of these pilots also shows disrespect to the other employees who have been working sincerely.

The post Akasa Air suing its pilots amidst operational crisis appeared first on HR Katha.

In the emotional video, she seeks the government’s support in saving employees from a ‘toxic’ work culture and alleges that her immediate boss cited non-performance and behaviour as reasons for her termination, while the HR department denies this.

Apparently, BYJU’s gave her two options – she could resign on her own, and in that case, she would receive her salary on August 1. Alternatively, if she doesn’t resign, the company will terminate her, and she will receive her salary after 30-45 days.

She further alleges that the company did not even provide her with a one-month notice, which would have given her time to find another job.

Khemka also claims that the company promised to pay the variable amount at the end of the year, but that promise remains unfulfilled, and she has not received a single rupee from the said variable amount.

In the video, she reveals that she is the sole earning member of her family and that she will not be able to survive if she doesn’t receive her salary on August 1.

Her demands in the video include asking the company to pay her the variable pay, compensation for the notice period, encashment of her earned leaves, her last month’s salary, and her PF contribution. She earnestly requests the company to pay what is owed to her – not a single penny more.

Furthermore, she urges everyone not to join BYJU’s at any cost, claiming that the last 1.5 years have ruined her life.

She further alleges that the company fired her through a link sent to her via email, and the company didn’t even bother to write a subject line for the email.

The post A woman employee alleges BYJU’s of wrongful termination appeared first on HR Katha.

The Academic for Action and Development Delhi Teachers’ Association (AADTA) has been fighting for the interests of the teachers.

The teachers complain that delayed payment of salaries has become quite the norm in DU colleges. The teachers have already brought to the notice of Dean of Colleges Balaram Pani that the ad-hoc teachers of Dayal Singh College and Gargi College have not received their salaries for the past three months, while the guest teachers have not been paid for over a month in several colleges.

That is not all. The retired teachers have not been receiving pensions on time either. Certain colleges paid only a part of the monthly pension to the retired faculty members.

In the letter to Singh, about 10 DU teachers, including members of the Academic and Executive Councils, have urged the VC to take immediate action as the delay was causing a financial crisis for the affected teachers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to ensure inclusivity and equal opportunities, DU has introduced a policy where candidates from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) will be given preference over non-quota teachers. This move is expected to create a level playing field for those from marginalised groups.

The post Teachers of DU seek resolution to salary & pension issues appeared first on HR Katha.

Ghosn was forced to flee from Japan — after successfully heading Nissan’s operations for 20 years — when he was accused of breach of trust and misuse of company’s properties for personal profit. He was also accused of violating securities laws by withholding his compensation details. In 2018, he was arrested and even kept in solitary confinement for months during which he wasn’t allowed to meet even his wife. In 2019, he fled the country following a $14 million bail, and sought refuge in Lebanon.

Having Lebanese citizenship, Ghosn placed his trust in Lebanon’s judiciary and spent three years preparing for the lawsuit.

He is now suing Nissan for $1 billion, 50 per cent of the amount for damages and 50 per cent in salary, retirement funds and stock options. Ghosn has reportedly told the media that had he been in the US with American citizenship, he would have demanded much more for the suffering he has had to endure.

He is demanding compensation from a Lebanese associate of Nissan, in addition to those who entered his houses to seize his documents, computers and so on. He has also sought damages from all those who were part of the investigations that led to his arrest. He claims that he was illegally thrown out of Nissan. Therefore, he is determined to challenge the company — for tarnishing his reputation and questioning his character— irrespective of whether he wins the case or not.

The post Former CEO begins legal fight with Nissan for tarnishing his name appeared first on HR Katha.

Cadila Pharmaceuticals spokesperson stated that the company regularly evaluates employee performance, and sustained poor performance results in the right action being taken on a case-by-case basis. The spokesperson added that the terminated employee was a consistently poor performer and had instigated others to support his baseless claims, which disrupted the normal operations of the facility. Cadila Pharmaceuticals, which employs a total of 298 people at the factory, has purchased 28 acres of land to build a new plant in Kashmir.

The post Cadila Pharma faces worker protest over alleged termination appeared first on HR Katha.

In January, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced a policy requiring employees “within commuting distance” to return to the office at least three days per week, despite previously pleading with employees to return to the office. However, the Wednesday petition calls for the company to reverse this policy and “commit to a policy of neutrality and respect federal labour laws” to address alleged union-busting.

Sen. Bernie Sanders announced on the same day as the petition that he intends to hold a vote on whether to summon Schultz to testify before Congress regarding allegations that Starbucks has been intimidating and terminating pro-union employees as the unionization movement gains momentum nationwide. The letter claims that the return-to-office policy and the alleged union-busting are eroding trust in Starbucks’ leadership.

When asked about the petition, a spokesperson for Starbucks declined to comment on its contents, but acknowledged that members of the company’s leadership had received it. While Starbucks has denied any anti-union activity and stated that it has not violated any labour laws, a recent ruling from the National Labor Relations Board found the company guilty of multiple violations, including one case at a Philadelphia store location. These findings suggest that the concerns raised by the employees in the petition may have some validity.

Starbucks is not the only major US company facing issues over its return-to-office policy. Other corporations like Amazon and Disney have also faced employee concerns and debates about the merits of such mandates in recent weeks. However, the petition from Starbucks employees highlights the need for corporations to prioritise their employees’ concerns and satisfaction in the midst of the ongoing debate over the future of work.

The post Starbucks employees petition for reversal of return-to-office policy appeared first on HR Katha.

Yes, the IT major has cut the salaries of the freshers waiting to be onboarded by 50 per cent. That means, those who were earlier offered Rs 6.5 lakhs per year, are now being asked to settle for a package of only Rs 3.5 lakhs a year!

The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has demanded that Wipro reconsider its decision, as it’s unfair to the freshers and violates all rules of transparency and fairness. The Senate maintains that it is unethical to punish the freshers for the Company’s financial troubles.

The Company, however, feels that it is offering freshers an opportunity to learn and hone their skills, and that its decision to halve salaries is driven by the uncertain economic conditions prevailing globally. It has communicated to those awaiting onboarding that presently project engineer roles are available at an annual pay of about Rs 3.5 lakhs.

The pay cut has come as a big shock to the freshers who have only just completed the graduates’ training and development programme, Velocity, offered by the Company.

The freshers, with the support of NITES hope that the matter can be solved amicably through discussions and negotiations with Wipro.

The post Wipro slashes salary offer of freshers by 50% appeared first on HR Katha.

Writing to the Minister of State for Labour & Employment, Harpreet Singh Saluja, president, NITES, has sought the Government’s intervention in safeguarding the rights of the employees.

These freshers received offer letters early last year wherein they were informed that they would either have to pay at least Rs 30,000 for the training or opt to undergo unpaid internship and a three-month training programme. They were promised that if they completed the programme by scoring at least 60 per cent marks, their salary would be increased to about 6.5 lakhs per annum.

Although the unpaid internship ended in July last year, the onboarding of these employees was delayed for months. And now these trainees/freshers have been terminated in what NITES calls an illegal manner.

The Senate had condemned these terminations and called it unethical because many of these freshers had rejected other offers to be able to join Wipro.

Meanwhile, Wipro maintains that the sacked freshers were let go because they were unable to clear the test, which comprises assessments that evaluate whether the individual will be able to align with the goals of the business.

The email to the impacted employees reminded them that the offer letter they had  received mentioned that the employment could be terminated by the Company or the employee after providing a notice of 30 days to the other party. The IT major told them that they were being let go without having to pay the training cost.

The post NITES seeks Labour Ministry’s intervention in Wipro freshers’ layoff appeared first on HR Katha.

According to Katz, TCS favours Indians and South Asians when it comes to hiring and promotions.

He alleges that those who are not Indians or South Asians are systematically discriminated against by the senior leadership too, in matters pertaining to staffing, benching and termination. The case was filed by Katz at the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, as reported by Moneycontrol.

Katz claims that in his nine-year long tenure at TCS, he was not given any promotion despite being suitably qualified for it. In fact, he was deprived of a promotion even though he was recommended for one by not just his managers but even the clients he served. He also complains of not having been suitably supported while he was on the bench.

Apparently, about 70 per cent of TCS’ US workforce comprises South Asians, who are non-citizens from India with work visas in the US. At a time when 12 to 13 per cent of the US IT sector consists of South Asians, this seems unfair and a clear indication of discrimination.

This is not the first time TCS has been dragged to court for discrimination. A similar case about seven years ago was won by TCS.

The post TCS accused of discrimination by former employee appeared first on HR Katha.

The lawsuit filed in the San Francisco Federal Court claims that Musk laid off 57 per cent of women employees compared to 47 per cent of the men in the workforce. Reportedly, the difference is even greater when it comes to women’s roles in the engineering department. About 63 per cent of the women in the workforce were laid off compared to 48 per cent of men in engineering roles.

The platform (Twitter) and Musk are still to respond to this latest lawsuit.

If sources are to be believed, three Twitter employees have filed a complaint against the platform with the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) in the US. Furthermore, there was also a temporary injunction claim coming from one of the senior-level employees at Twitter last month.

Sinead McSweeney, Twitter’s global vice-president for public policy, has approached an Irish court seeking help in preventing her termination by Elon Musk, reports the Irish Times. Although she said that she had not resigned, she claimed that she has subsequently been treated differently by other Twitter employees.

In November, Musk let go of close to 3,800 regular staff, along with thousands more contract workers. At his “very intense” work call later, hundreds more from the Twitter workforce had quit. Additionally, he also shut down his office in Brussels in the European Union (EU), which was focused on the European Union digital policy, working in close proximity with the European Commission.

The post Two women sue Musk’s Twitter for discriminatory layoffs appeared first on HR Katha.

It was noticed by the manager of Oliver Garden — a popular Italian restaurant and part of the Darden Group, a recognised restaurant operator in the US — that many of the staff members at the Kansas location in the US, were taking too many leaves.

In response, the manager addressed a memo to all the staff warning everyone that if anyone takes a single day off in the next 30 days, he/she will lose the job. “If anyone calls out more than ONCE in the next 30 days, you will not have a job,” stated the memo.

According to the manager, people like him never took a day off in their 11 years of service, irrespective of circumstances. “I came in sick. I got in a wreck literally on my way to work on time, airbags went off and my car was totaled, but you know what, I made it to work, ON TIME!” mentions the manager. “There are no more excuses. If you’re here to work and want to work, then work,” the manager adds.

Angrily the manager states that, staying back late on weekends does not work for anyone, as everyone desires to spend time with their family . “I’m dedicated to being here. As should you. No more excuses or complaints,” the manager writes in the memo.

Such is the manager’s lack of empathy that even taking a day off to deal with family emergencies seems unjustified to him. “If it is a family emergency and you cannot stay, too bad. Work somewhere else,” the memo reads.

After the memo went viral, many have criticised this unprofessional behaviour of the manager.

Darden has, of course, sent the manager packing and confirmed the same. His behaviour, according to the Group, does not align with the Group’s values.

The post This restaurant manager gets fired for unpleasant memo to staff appeared first on HR Katha.

Amazon India had rolled out a voluntary separation programme (VSP) last week, aimed at reducing its team size.

What did the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) find unethical?

Well, as per the VSP, the employees of Amazon India have been given a deadline of 30 November 2022, by which they have to either quit on their own and avail the benefits of the separation scheme or be prepared to be laid off without any benefits.

Calling this VSP illegal and unethical, NITES had acted on the complaints received from the employees and requested the Centre and the labour relations authorities to intervene and resolve the matter.

Following the call for help by NITES, the Labour Ministry has now reportedly summoned the online retailer.

Given the fact that Amazon has a workforce strength of about 100,000 workers in India, hundreds of people will be deprived of a livelihood if they lose their jobs.

The Senate points out that the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 forbids any employer from laying off employees without seeking prior permission from the appropriate government first. Also, an employee who has been with a company for a minimum of three years continuously, cannot be fired unless three months’ advance notice is given. The employer or organisation is obligated to provide reasons for a layoff and apply to the authorities for permission to do the same.

The post Amazon India summoned by Labour Ministry over unethical layoffs appeared first on HR Katha.

When co-workers learnt of the said employee’s unfair termination, they all decided to report late for work. In fact, all the co-workers of the fired employee have decided to arrive late for work daily until their employer reinstates their colleague.

The incident came to light via a Reddit post and many netizens have expressed shock at the incident.

The post has gone viral and the concerned manager has been criticised for the injustice meted out to a loyal employee.

In another interesting incident, a man who was fired from his job in Calgary, Canada, went about destroying his employer’s property.

His demolition act was capture on video by shocked bystanders, and needless to say, the video went viral. The disturbed and visibly upset employee decided to use a bulldozer machine to demolish his employer’s lakeside property.

The 59-year old former employee was charged with mischief and fined £3,200 for his act. The footage that was posted on Twitter was accompanied by a message that read “You can’t make this up. A disgruntled, fired employee from a marina near our lake house snapped and destroyed the entire marina with an excavator.”

It wasn’t just one building that he destroyed. The damage he has caused will cost millions to repair.

The post Colleagues stand up for employee fired for being late appeared first on HR Katha.

That is not all, Tanuja Gupta, the manager who invited Soundararajan to speak, was also admonished for having scheduled her talk. Following this, Gupta put in her papers in protest.

Incidentally, Gupta was the founder of Googlers for Ending Forced Arbitration, a group that forced Google to withdraw its policy of making employees let go their right to go to court in case of a conflict with their employer. When Soundararajan’s talk was cancelled, Gupta had spoken in her favour, following which the Company accused her of violating rules and breaking the People Manager Code of Conduct and given a warning.

Members of the workforce who were opposed to the speaker labelled the speaker as anti-Hindu and feared that her discussion on caste equality would put their lives at risk.

Soundararajan used to be the president of the Ambedkarites Association of North America (AANA), which maintains an anti-caste stand and works to draw attention to social segregation at the global level. She is behind Equality Labs, the non-profit organisation that organises anti-caste campaigns targeted at the South Asian population.

Her speech at Google was scheduled to coincide with Dalit History Month before it was cancelled following resistance from employees.

Soundararajan claims that the Indian market, which happens to be one of the biggest for Google, has at least 25 per cent people who are oppressed due to their caste. She maintains that these people are essential for Google to achieve its next user target, and therefore, the issue of caste and related bias and discrimination need to be addressed right now.

The post Google accused of casteism appeared first on HR Katha.

HRKatha was able to track down one such victim, from Madhya Pradesh. Mayank Tripathi, a mechanical engineer, got an offer letter asking him to deposit Rs 5000. In fact, talking to HRKatha, Tripathi shared that this is not the first time when someone posing as a consultant from Ashok Leyland had contacted him. Two years ago too, when Tripathi had applied to Ashok Leyland, some fraudsters offered him a job and asked for security against employment. “This is the second time when something like this is happening with me. I had given an interview over a phone call and after a few days I got an appointment letter on the mail,” shares Tripathi.

Another engineering graduate, who did not want to be named, told HRKatha that he also received an offer letter from Ashok Leyland offering him a very high compensation. “I smelled something fishy, because no industry offers such high compensation to an entry-level employee, and, I had not even applied to Ashok Leyland. I just randomly received a mail from someone and several follow up calls for the same too,” he shares.

A spokesperson from Ashok Leyland tells HRKatha that several such instances of fraudsters, posing as job consultants for Ashok Leyland, duping unsuspecting candidates have been brought to their notice. “These candidates are usually from non-metros and desperately looking for a stable job with a reputable organisation. We ensure that we report such incidents by registering a formal complaint with the Commissioner of Police, Cyber-crime Department. We share whatever details we have to help shut down such operations. Job seekers usually visit our website first and on the career section/page we have a standard disclaimer message, warning potential candidates about such nefarious operations where money is expected from candidates in lieu of a confirmed job. Additionally, our team acts immediately on incidents that are brought to our notice and they communicate to all candidates to exercise caution and report to us about such imposters.”

During these times, when many people are struggling to find employment, some cheats are trying to take advantage of their situation. The gullible and desperate ones are even falling into their traps.

What’s interesting is there are people who were interviewed first and then got the fake appointment letter, which can be a matter of coincidence, because there were others who were randomly picked to be served with fake offer letter.

Cautioning potential candidates, the Company says “We’d like to highlight that we are an equal and fair opportunity employer, whose hiring policies are transparent. Candidates must stick to our careers page or Job Search platforms for any information on the opportunities. We’d like to re-emphasise that anybody or any document promising employment against money or kind, is fake and illegal. These must be immediately reported to us or the authorities.”

The post The case of fake Ashok Leyland appointment letters appeared first on HR Katha.

Investigations had revealed that during the period 2014 to 2017, about 2,783 women employees in its software engineering team were being underpaid. It was also brought to light that in 2017, the Company had passed over several women and Asian candidates for various roles in the software engineering wing, in various parts of the country, including California, Washington and San Francisco.

To settle the allegations and resolve the issue, the technology major will now spend $2.6 million in back pay for about 5,500 employees and aspiring candidates. The Company will also have to take a relook at its hiring practices and salary structure to ensure that women are not at a disadvantage and there is no discrimination of any sort.

Google also will also have to shell out $1.25 million towards adjustments for engineers in four locations, by 2025. Whatever is left of this amount will be invested in diversity efforts.

The Company has committed to ensuring that people in its workforce are paid according to their work and output and not their race or gender. It has also stated that it will take all necessary steps to ensure a fair compensation structure that is free of any bias.

The post $2.6 mn in back pay, $3.8 mn in settlement by Google appeared first on HR Katha.

The petition states that even though a June 17 order had directed the Delhi government to pay their doctors and healthcare workers, no step had been taken to implement the directive.

The plea was filed by Advocate Amarjeet Singh and represented by Advocate Prabhas Bajaj. Aside from paying the pending wages, the doctors and health workers were also supposed to be provided appropriate accommodation, with proper quarantine guidelines uniformly implemented for them, none of which is taking place.

The North, South and East Delhi Municipal Corporations, according to the plea, have not paid the pending salaries to the doctors, which is a matter of public knowledge. It went on to state that the doctors were not demanding any special treatment, but were simply asking for the clearance of dues and fulfilment of certain basic requirements.

Non-clearance of dues and denial of the bare minimum had forced the doctors to take to the streets, as a mark of protest, with begging bowls in hand to beg the authorities to pay them their salaries. Highlighting the tireless efforts of the doctors, the petition stated how inaction on the part of the authorities was injustice towards the doctors and clear violation of Article 21.

The doctors have been holding agitations and dharnas, and filing complaints for some time now. Doctors and health workers from the Hindu Rao Hospital had gone on a hunger strike from October 23 to October 29, with the filing of the contempt case taking place on October 28.

The apex court is expected to hear the case today, that is, December 3, as the dues still remain to be cleared for these doctors and health workers.

The post IMA files petition in SC over non-payment of docs’ wages appeared first on HR Katha.

Considering that these very health workers have been working hard day and night, risking their lives amidst the pandemic, it is shameful that they have to resort to a strike to get what they deserve. The regular nursing staff of Kasturba hospital, Hindu Rao hospital, Girdharilal Maternity hospital, Rajan Babu TB hospital are already on indefinite strike since November 2.

Meanwhile, down south, in Tirupati, almost a 1,000 COVID staff working in various capacities have been protesting against non-payment of salaries for six months. These nurses, doctors, female nursing orderlies (FNOs), male nursing orderlies (MNOs), stretcher bearers and other paramedical staff were recruited on orders by the government in two batches. The first batch has completed six months, while the second has completed two months. While the doctors and nurses have not received salaries for about three months, the FNOs and MNOs haven’t been paid for six months, despite the fact that these medical workers have been putting in over eight hours of work tending to COVID patients.

The members of the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Workers Association (APMWA) have also been staging protests demanding the release of their salaries, which have been pending for three months now. suffered with Covid-19.

The post India’s frontline warriors fight for salaries appeared first on HR Katha.

The employees were told of this revised leave policy through an e-mail. It has been made clear to them that the eight leaves that they were entitled to for the period March to June stand cancelled, and only about 15 leaves will be carried forward from last year. As per the original leave policy, employees were allowed two leaves every month, which they could use the same month or later by clubbing with leaves entitled for other months. However, now with the amended policy, the employees cannot take any leaves till the end of June. If they do, they risk getting their pay cut.

The plight of those who are not part of any project presently is even worse. They are being forced to apply for 15 days of leave, and some of them don’t even have that many leaves left. This means, they will be forced to take a pay cut. Employees who had been saving leaves last year, hoping they would be carried forward are also feeling cheated.

With Capgemini recently having acquired a French company, the employees are unable to understand why the Company is resorting to pressurise the workforce in this manner, that too when it has been performing well.

Showing support to these employees, the National Information Technology Employees Sena (NITES) has taken up the issue with the chief minister of Maharashtra. However, the Company maintains that this is just a temporary measure taken for the second quarter specifically, and that the leave policy for the rest of the year will remain unchanged.

Later Capgemini issued an official statement clarifying its stand on this.

“During these unprecedented times, Capgemini’s highest priority continues to be to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees. Our variable pay for year 2019 was payed-out to all eligible employees last month as normal. We are going ahead with increments and promotions for all junior professionals effective from April 1, 2020. This constitutes more than 70 per cent of our team members in this cycle. For the rest, planned increments and promotions have been deferred by one quarter and will then go ahead. We have tweaked the leave accumulation only up to Q2 end, and only as an interim measure. Our overall leave policy for the rest of the year remains unchanged and employees can continue to accrue leave as per the policy.”

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As per the ‘Analysing Female Employment Trends in South Asia’ report by the World Bank, moderately educated women in India are less likely to get a job in the country, as compared to their less-educated counterparts. This is because women are excluded from major employment sectors for moderately educated people — such as white-collar clerical jobs and retail sales jobs— that women’s participation rate in the labour force of the country is so low.

According to the World Bank’s forecast, if all women involved in domestic duties and keen to work had a job, the women’s participation rate in the labour force will go up by about 20 percentage points in the country. The report reveals that falling rate of labour force participation among educated urban women is because of their limited participation in sectors, which are actually suitable for educated women, even when there are twice as many graduates in the working-age population today.

The participation of women in the labour force varies from region to region, and also on the basis of religion, social status and ethnicity. Women’s status as professionals is influenced by her husband’s preferences as well as the attitude of the community towards them.

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A series of e-mails sent by employees of Boeing reveal a lot of ‘arrogance’ in the Company’s culture.  The employees express that Boeing has always been focussed only on cutting costs and followed a casual approach to safety. These facts are of great significance considering the two fatal crashes of the 737 MAX aircraft in which 346 lives were lost.

The e-mails that covered about a 100 pages are dated between 2013 and 2018, and have been handed over to US lawmakers.

It seems that in the e-mails the employees have clearly revealed that they themselves would not risk allowing their families to fly in a MAX simulator-trained aircraft. Some of them who worked on the MAX simulators have complained of technical snags and difficulties too.

Most messages exchanged between employees seem to talk only of meeting schedules and not about ensuring quality. Clearly, suppliers with low rankings have been given contracts simply to cut costs, which led to the loss of innocent lives—something that could have been prevented.

In certain messages, the employees have even questioned the abilities and competence of the Company’s engineers, with some even calling the MAX ridiculous in terms of design.

The e-mails clearly reveal the contempt Boeing harboured for regulators and how casual the management was in its approach to safety. It had slipped in terms of training the pilots, just to avoid the huge costs involved in training. It had also flouted norms in order to obtain the green signal for the MAX aircraft.

The crashes claimed 346 lives and led to the plane’s worldwide grounding last March.

The e-mails will surely pose a challenge to David Calhoun, who is all set to join as CEO, and whose main task will be to salvage the image of the Company post grounding of the MAX aircraft and the two fatal crashes.

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In 2019, the said employee had approached the labour court alleging that she had been sexually harassed during an out-of-turn face to face appraisal meeting, which she had been made to attend against her will. She alleged that the ICC failed to investigate the matter in the way it should have, and had concluded that there was no proof to substantiate her allegations, even though she had provided them with all the required evidence. She then sought a fair and just re-investigation.

The concerned employee is appealing to the court to order her employer not to change the terms of her service till the case is concluded. Activists believe she is being harassed simply because she took the issue— regarding inconsistencies in the way the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) had handled her sexual harassment case— to court.

Now, according to the employee, she is being punished at the workplace for dragging the Company to court. She is sure that these internal transfers are a form of retaliation by her employer. As a consistently above-average performer, who had been appreciated for her work by her superiors, she did not deserve these unnecessary movements. However, last month, while all the others— who were working on the project of which she was a part—continued in the same project even during the winter break, she alone was transferred to another project, which clearly implies ‘selective discrimination’.

Since TCS follows the practice of performance-based appraisals, her transfer from the project would simply ‘nullify’ her performance during the appraisal period.

Interestingly, when the employee’s case had made headlines and was widely discussed in social media, her manager had accused her of ‘organising’ a social media campaign.

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According to the lawsuit, these companies get their supply of cobalt— which is a primary component in the batteries used in smartphones, laptops, tabs, and electric cars— from various mining companies, such as Glencore (of Britain) and Zhejiang Hyayou Cobalt (of China). By doing so these tech firms are actually being party to the unfair and “brutal” use of children for cobalt mining.

Children as young as six years old are forced to skip school and education, to work in these mines under dangerous conditions. They are often killed when tunnels collapse, while most sustain serious injuries that affect them for life.

The poor families who lose their children to these mines also face financial pressure as their income is lost. They face more emotional pressure when they are then forced to send more children to work in the mines to compensate for the loss of income.

While Apple reiterated its deep commitment to responsible sourcing of materials used in its products, it also shared the fact that it had removed about six cobalt refiners from its supply chain this year, as they had failed to meet its safety standards. Dell, on the other hand, has promised to investigate the allegations and stated that the Company was unaware of the fact that children were being used in the mines.

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Jagadeesh explained at a court hearing that he had been denied promotion several times clearly because he was ‘straight’. Apparently, his boss had personally told him that he should not even hope to be promoted unless he becomes ‘smart’ and ‘learns’ exactly why others, who were junior to him had managed to move ahead.

Stating that men in the office were ‘sexually exploited’ in return for promotions and opportunities of career advancement, Jagadeesh said that the work environment had stressed him out and adversely affected his self-dignity and peace of mind.

The demanding nature of his work had impacted his vocal chords too. Apparently he had to meet a strict target of speaking to at least 60 customers daily, for less than 30 seconds each, over the phone. This had led to muscle tension dysphonia, for which the doctor had advised him to take medical breaks from work. Instead of being just and fair, the Bank had been very inconsiderate and had fired him, declaring him unqualified for the work.

However, Jagadeesh is certain the termination was based on his medical condition and his refusal to be part of the gay/bisexual group.

The case, which was earlier dismissed by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, will now be reopened and investigated by a Canadian Federal Court.

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Apparently, the male presenter had been receiving about Rs 2.72 lakh per episode till 2018, but when his remuneration was reduced to Rs 1.18 lakh per episode last year, he quit. Ahmed, on the other hand, had been receiving only Rs 40,000 per episode ever since she started presenting her show in 2012. In 2015 she did get a hike, which took her remuneration to merely Rs 42,000 per episode, but the amount was again reduced when the BBC entered into employment contracts with the presenters.

Ahmed is being supported by the National Union of Journalists in her fight against unequal pay. She is seeking back pay for her work in line with the Equal Pay Act, 1970. The case is up for hearing in a London employment court.

Considering that her show as well as the one presented by the male colleague in question follow a similar format and are about the same length, Ahmed certainly has a strong case.

However, BBC has been arguing that the difference in pay was due to the fact that Ahmed’s show was part of the news segment whereas the male colleague’s show came under the entertainment section. BBC also maintains that Ahmed’s pay is the same as that of the man who was presenter of the show before her.

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With a very hard hitting title —‘I’m not returning to Google after maternity leave, and here’s why’— the memo has been read by over 10,000 staff members at Google in a week’s time. Memes in support of the sender of the memo and highlighting the HR’s inefficacy have also been doing the rounds.

Interestingly, the memo begins with the employee disapproving of the way her manager treated another mother and how it affected her performance. While the writer was assured by the HR that there would be no retaliation, the employee actually was at the receiving end of her manager’s ire in more ways than one. In fact, she was so stressed out that she had to change her team, which adversely affected her growth in the organisation as she was refused managerial responsibilities, despite being known for her high performance. She was also told to refrain from taking early maternity leave by another manager, when faced with health complications.

While HR did investigate the matter, they apparently found nothing amiss and no action was taken against the managers.

This is not the first time that Google managers have been accused of retaliation. Last November, when thousands of employees of Google across the globe walked out in protest of the inappropriate handling of sexual misconduct charges, the employees who organised the protest faced retaliation.

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The petitioners explained that the government resolution to terminate the employees attempts to implement the Maratha quota from a ‘retrospective effect’, which would have an adverse impact on the open-caste temporary staff already occupying those posts.

These open-caste people were appointed in 2015, following the directives of the then Chief Justice of the High Court, who quashed the government proposal to reserve 16 per cent posts for the Maratha community. At that time, the government had been instructed not to leave those seats vacant and hire people from open castes on a temporary basis.

These employees have had their tenures renewed several times ever since.

Now, with another bench of the High Court upholding the Maratha quota, the government has decided to terminate the services of the existing open-caste employees, so that members of the Maratha community can take their place.

However, the quota has been reduced from 16 per cent to 12 per cent in public service and to 13 per cent in education.

The state government also announced that the ruling will be implemented with retrospective effect, that is, from 2015 onwards.

Following the plea of the affected open-caste employees, the Maharashtra government has been instructed not to terminate their services, for at least the next three weeks by when the bench will again hear the matter.

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The workers naturally took the pills without questioning because they helped them work and took care of the pain, especially when they could not afford to take leave or risk getting their wages cut.

However, prolonged consumption of these painkillers have affected the menstrual cycles and general health of most women workers at the garment factories.

Providing drugs to workers without a prescription or without proper medical advice is against labour laws.

Most of these women workers did not really realise that the pills were causing them damage until frequent cases of miscarriages, urinary tract infections, fibroids, depression and anxiety came to light. It took them years to understand that the unlabelled pills they had been given to ease their pains had side effects which they were not warned of.

Investigators from the Thomson Reuters Foundation found no markings or labels that could have revealed either the brand of the pills or give any clue to their composition or date of expiry.

Doctors who examined the pills reported they were non-steroidal in nature and could relieve inflammation and pain. However, they also warned that such pills had possible harmful side-effects if ingested regularly.

With their toilet breaks also being controlled, the women working in Tamil Nadu’s garment factories are putting their health at risk to ensure profits. Most of them have huge burdens of loans and other liabilities that make it impossible for them to take time off and risk getting their wages cut.

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William Littleton, who was amongst the senior executives of the Bank, has stated that he was even kept out of an official call simply because he sounded too gay. He is reported to have been asked whether his mannerisms were as they were because he was gay.

Littleton complained to the court that even though he had put in years of hard work and had been appreciated for his outstanding performance, he was suddenly fired by those who had been discriminating against him. Littleton has named two senior executives in the suit. He has claimed that even though he was promoted and given more responsibilities, not only was he belittled, but his compensation also fell with time by about 20 per cent. Although he complained to the employee relations department in May 2018, nothing positive came out of it, and he was finally terminated in January this year.

This comes as a rude shock to the Bank, which is otherwise known for upholding LGBTQ rights. In fact, the Bank had done very well in terms of the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which is a measure of an organisation’s overall internal and external support of LGBT staff.

Littleton has also accused the Bank of pretending to be an inclusive workplace simply to uphold its image in the eyes of the public. He has alleged that the Bank is far from being LGBTQ friendly.

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All the BCB employees who have retired since January 2006, are eligible for the revised pension, which they have yet to receive.

Despite letters being sent to all the relevant authorities, including the prime minister’s office, pensioners’ welfare department, principal director of defence estates, director general of defence estates as well as the headquarters, Southern Command, no action has been taken to make their pensions available to them.

More than 50 retired employees( most of whom are cleaners), of which six have even died, are eligible for the revised pension w.e.f 2006. When approached, BCB actually tells these pensioners that it is waiting for the orders from headquarters. This is unfair, since all the cantonments that fall under the Southern Command have already implemented the revised pension long back, except BCB.

Now, the Union government has sanctioned the implementation of the revised pension as per the 7th Pay Commission, the order for which was received in 2017. But even this is pending. Over 150 pensioners should be benefitting from this recent revision.

The grievances of the retired BCB staff do not end here. They have not been receiving dearness allowance since January last year. This again, they have been told is because the orders for the same are yet to come from headquarters!

Clearly, a stir is justified after such a long wait of more than a decade.

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Since 60 per cent of the SC staff comprises women, this is a solution that is totally impractical and unjustified. By not hiring women as junior court assistants, the judges will only be cutting down the opportunities for women. Also, any serious allegations of this nature need to be formally investigated.

Lawyers are of the opinion that sexual harassment at the workplace is not uncommon and can happen in any office, in any sector. Instead of making the work environment safe for women and ensuring justice to those victims who have shown the courage to speak up, if women are totally excluded from the workforce, the future will definitely be very bleak for them. Not only will they stop being hired for jobs, they will also stop raising their voice against any form of harassment or victimisation for fear of losing their jobs.

The lawyers opined that judges who are found to be guilty of such crimes should be tried and duly punished after thorough investigation. Only then will the citizens of the country have faith in its judicial system.

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Tania Zarak joined Netflix as a manager in the International Originals division in the middle of last year. However, when she revealed that she was pregnant a couple of months later, she was asked to leave.

Zarak has stated that her termination was totally unjustified and had caused her immense mental and physical pain. Not only did she feel humiliated but she underwent a lot of anxiety and emotional disturbance, for which she has sought compensation.

In addition to the emotional trauma, the employee has also demand damages for the wages she lost, and the other employee benefits, bonuses, vacation benefits, and medical benefits, she was deprived of due to the termination.

The suit also claims that the termination did not happen overnight. It was a calculated and gradual process which began with Zarak being excluded in meetings. Her superior even went to the extent of belittling her by commenting on her appearance. She was also removed from a show she was earlier assigned to work on, involving a celebrity.

However, the Company has maintained that the allegations are baseless, and that these claims have been investigated earlier too and found to be fake. The Company has stated that it supports its employees and their families in their times of need; and that employees who are starting a family receive the required support and flexibility from the Company.

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The employee, Ashley Berg, has now amended her suit claiming that other women employees have joined her in support and have come out with instances of gender and pregnancy discrimination faced at BMF, where the leadership is dominated by men.

The amended suit that names the founding and managing partners of the company, as well as the chief operating officer, highlights several instances where laws pertaining to labour, family and medical leave have been violated.

One of the women has alleged that at the time of interview she was asked how many children she had and whether she planned to get pregnant in the near future. She said that she was later offered the job on condition that she would have to wait for at least a year before thinking of having a baby.

According to the complaint, ever since Berg filed the suit, the Company not only removed her from her private office, but has been circulating an internal statement about the case to the staff, which clearly is a way of intimidating the employees and preventing others from coming forward in support of Berg. The complaint says that it is quite clear that BMF is trying to force Berg to quit.

According to Berg’s lawyer, it is evident from the experiences of the women that BMF does not respect working mothers.

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The accusation against Singhal —of groping an employee in an inebriated state at an off-site event— was found to be credible post investigations. And Singhal had resigned at the time stating he wished to spend more time with his family and on philanthropic activities. However, Singhal was reportedly paid $45 million to exit the Company and hush up the incident. The ‘exit package’ was revealed recently in a lawsuit by a shareholder, James Martin, that accused Google’s parent company, Alphabet, of being irresponsible. It objected to the Company paying executives charged with sexual harassment handsome severance packages instead of terminating them.

Singhal’s is not the lone case. Not long ago, the Company reportedly paid a $90 million exit package to Andy Rubin, head-Android division, despite him being accused of sexual harassment.

In fact, Rubin had been accused of harassment more than once. Post investigations he was left with no option but to resign in 2014. However, the resignation seems to have cost Google $90 million in the form of exit package, which was paid in instalments. Rubin received $15 million each for two years, and an amount ranging between $5 million and $15 million in the third year, on the condition that he would not join any competitor. The final instalment was paid in 2018.

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