Non-compete clause: Labour Ministry calls Infosys, union for joint dialogue
Following considerations raised by a gaggle of IT sector staff over a clause within the employment contract of India’s second largest software program firm Infosys, the Ministry of Labour & Employment has known as representatives of the corporate in addition to the workers’ union to carry a joint dialogue on the difficulty.
In the letter addressed to Krish Shankar, Infosys’ Group Head-Human Resources and Harpreet Singh Saluja, President, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner famous: “This is with reference to the complaint from President, NITES against the management of Infosys Ltd in respect of non-compete agreement clause whereby the employees terminated from employment from Infosys for any reason have been restricted in respect of their future employment. The aforesaid clause has been alleged to be unethical and illegal by the complainant”.
It added {that a} joint dialogue shall be held on the difficulty on Thursday. The Indian Express has reviewed a replica of this letter.
An e-mail question despatched to Infosys looking for feedback didn’t elicit a response.
DefinedThe again story
Last week, NITES wrote to the Labour, and Corporate Affairs ministries, looking for intervention on a non-compete clause within the contract of Infosys staff. NITES mentioned Infosys was imposing this clause, saying that after resigning, an Infosys worker can’t work, for a interval of six months, with one of many named rival corporations on a shopper she or he would have serviced within the previous 12 months earlier than quitting.
Last week, NITES wrote to the ministries of labour, and company affairs looking for intervention on a non-compete clause within the contract of Infosys staff, which restricted staffers from becoming a member of a few of its opponents. NITES mentioned that Infosys was imposing this non-compete clause says that after resigning, an Infosys worker can’t work, for a interval of six months, with one of many named rival corporations on a shopper she or he would have serviced within the previous 12 months earlier than quitting.
Among the rival corporations named within the employment contract are TCS, Accenture, IBM, Cognizant and Wipro for Infosys’ software program companies wing. For the businesses enterprise processing administration (BPM) wing, the named opponents within the employment pact are Tech Mahindra, Genpact, WNS, TCS, Accenture, IBM, Cognizant, Wipro and HCL.
At the time, Infosys had mentioned that such a non-compete clause is a “standard business practice” in employment contracts.
“It is standard business practice in many parts of the world for employment contracts to include controls of reasonable scope and duration to protect confidentiality of information, customer connection and other legitimate business interests. These are fully disclosed to all job aspirants before they decide to join Infosys, and do not have the effect of preventing employees from joining other organisations for career growth and aspirations,” the corporate had mentioned in an announcement on April 20.
