City labour court sets aside dismissal of IT professional

City labour court sets aside dismissal of IT professional

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 26.12.2020

A labour court here has set aside the dismissal of an experienced IT professional employed with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for more than two decades and directed the company to reinstate the staff and pay 50% back wages.

The employee, a resident of Velachery, moved the labour court against her termination stating that she was dismissed despite her stating that she could not report to work due to health reasons.

According to her petition, she joined the company in 1995 as an associate consultant and rendered service for more than 22 years. She stated that she fell ill in May 2017 and communicated about her illness to the human resources team of TCS over phone. She also submitted her medical records subsequently.

However, she was dismissed from employment through a communication dated June 2, 2017, without accepting her valid explanations on health grounds, the petitioner stated.

Her counsel submitted that she was dismissed without following the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act.

In response, the company submitted that the employee could not be allocated to any project owing to her inability to upgrade subject knowledge and requisite skill sets. She remained unallocated (benched) for 727 days from March 7, 2015, until the date of discharge from her services, the company’s counsel submitted, and argued that the employee availed salary benefits, without having worked for over two years.

After perusing the submissions from either side, N Venkatavaradhan, presiding officer, first additional labour court, observed that there is no evidence to prove the allegations of TCS that the petitioner has not improved her standards as required by the management. “Therefore, this court can see that it is a tactic adopted by the management to find reasons for her termination,” the court said and directed the management to reinstate the petitioner within three months and pay 50 % backwages and other benefits from the date of termination.

TCS did not respond to queries from TOI.

The court held there is no evidence to prove her employer’s allegations that the petitioner didn’t improve her standards as required by the firm