Infosys postponed internal assessment of trainees after freshers layoff controversy

Recently, there was a controversy in Infosys, one of the big software companies, regarding the layoff of more than 300 freshers. After this, the company has postponed the internal assessment for the trainees for a week. However, Infosys says that this assessment has been postponed with the aim of giving more time to the trainees for preparation.

The IT workers’ union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has claimed that due to its efforts and the government’s action, the assessment of about 800 trainees has been postponed. Infosys has said in a statement that it had not received any request from the government or external parties to postpone the assessment. The company said that the assessment has been extended for a week to provide more time to the trainees for preparation.

Last week, the Ministry of Labor and Employment directed the Labor Ministry of Karnataka to take necessary action to resolve the dispute over the layoff of freshers in Infosys. Earlier, NITES had raised the issue of layoffs of freshers in the company’s Mysore campus before the Labor Ministry. The Labor Ministry had said, “The Karnataka government is requested to investigate this matter.” Infosys had confirmed the layoff of about 300 freshers. The company had said that these workers could not clear the internal tests. However, NITES had said that Infosys has laid off about 700 workers. These workers had joined the company only a few months ago.

NITES had said that the dismissed freshers were forced to sign confidentiality agreements, which is an attempt to hide the details of the layoff. NITES has expressed apprehensions about this layoff and its impact on the workers covered by it. In a letter to the Labour Ministry, NITES had said, “We have come to know from several complaints received from the affected workers that Infosys has forcibly terminated the freshers who had joined recently. There was a delay of almost two years in the joining of these workers after receiving the offer letter.”