The regional labour commissioner, Bengaluru, representing the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has stated that the grievances of Paytm employees—pertaining to the recovery of joining and retention bonus—have been resolved.
Earlier, several employees had filed complaints against Paytm with the Labour Ministry’s Samadhan portal, citing unfair practices.
Following these complaints from employees, the Labour Ministry had issued a notice to Paytm, alleging forced termination of employees without a fair exit process. The Ministry has asked that representatives from Paytm’s management and the complainants appear before the department with relevant records.
Paytm had been under regulatory scrutiny owing to persistent non-compliance at its banking unit. It was also accused of forcing employees to voluntarily resign without giving them any prior notice. Furthermore, the company had reportedly also denied severance pay, and demanded repayment of joining and retention bonuses.
With the intervention of the Ministry, Paytm has agreed to not recover the joining bonus and also pay the employees what is due for the notice period. The issue is now resolved and both the involved parties are satisfied.
Although in the midst of a financial crisis, Paytm has expanded its employee stock option plan or ESOP pool in a bid to retain talent. The fintech firm has allocated 281,394 equity shares to its eligible employees. These fully paid-up equity shares have a face value of one rupee each. Interestingly, media reports say that the company may cut more jobs in this fiscal.
