On Thursday, February 6, hundreds of freshers working at Infosys' Mysuru campus were abruptly informed of their termination. Most of these were from the batch 2022, who had already waited for over two and a half years for their onboarding process.
For many, it was a devastating blow.
Anish, one of the trainee interns who was laid off on Thursday, told EdexLive, "I joined on October 7, 2024, after waiting for 2.5 years for my onboarding. On February 6, we were informed about our termination and that we had to leave the campus by 5 pm on February 7. There was no prior notice."
"I had already joined a job near my hometown in Chandigarh while waiting for onboarding, but I moved to Mysuru only for Infosys. Many others did the same. Now, we are left stranded. Other Information Technology (IT) companies would surely prefer freshers from the 2024 and 2025 batches over us. Now, we don’t know what to do," he added.
Infosys onboarded 905 freshers in this batch, out of which, nearly 490 have been laid off, according to the interns.
“On top of that, they asked us to suddenly leave. We are left on our own to book tickets and accommodation. They will not reimburse that cost. This is even more difficult for the female employees,” added Anish.
Forced to sign “mutual separation" letters
The employees have alleged that they were forced by the IT giants to sign ‘mutual separation’ letters during the lay-off process.
Moreover, the IT employees' union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) even alleged that Infosys deployed bouncers and security personnel to intimidate employees during the termination process.
Employees were not allowed to carry mobile phones, leaving them with no way to document the incident or seek help, said the association.
“Shockingly, these employees have been given an ultimatum to leave the premises by this evening, without any prior notice, severance package, or support. Such actions not only violate basic principles of ethical employment but also contravene Indian labour laws, including the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947,” Advocate Harpreet Singh Saluja, President, NITES, told EdexLive.
Infosys' Justification
The IT giant Infosys defended its decision, stating that these freshers were let go after failing multiple internal assessments, which are part of the company's onboarding process.
"All freshers get three attempts to clear the assessment, failing which they will not be able to continue with the organization, as is also mentioned in their contract. This process has been in existence for over two decades," the company said in a statement.
However, despite its justification, the company has come under fire for its unethical and arbitrary method of laying off trainee employees.
Saubhik Bhattacharya, General Secretary of the All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union (AIITEU), questioned Infosys' approach, stating, “Did Infosys inform the Labour Department before these layoffs? Did they explore reallocating these trainees to other departments or assessing their skills in different roles? This raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of their campus recruitment process. Instead of citing work quality as a justification, Infosys should answer a more pressing question — why was there a 2.5-year delay in onboarding these recruits in the first place?”
The association added that it will approach the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) demanding their immediate intervention, stating that the assessment of the performance of employees, be it trainees or permanent, must be conducted transparently and be audited by third-party bodies under the supervision of the government.