NITES seeks Labour Ministry’s intervention in Wipro freshers’ layoff

The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES)has taken up the cause of the 452 freshers laid off by Wipro. These freshers were told by Wipro that they would have to leave because they had performed poorly in the test conducted inhouse by the organisation, despite the training they had received.

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.