The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has directed the Karnataka Labour Department to investigate the recent termination of nearly 400 employees by multinational tech giant Infosys. The directive, issued on February 13, urges the state government to take “urgent necessary actions to resolve the dispute”. This action follows a complaint lodged by the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), an organisation advocating for IT employees' welfare.
On February 7, Infosys laid off approximately 400 trainee employees at its Mysuru training facility. While Infosys claimed that employees ‘voluntarily’ signed their release agreements, the terminated employees alleged that they were coerced into signing the agreement.
The day of the termination, the employees were summoned for a ‘confidential’ meeting regarding their assessment training. However, without any discussion, they were allegedly pressured into signing a “mutual separation agreement”.
The agreement stated, “You have knowingly and voluntarily chosen to enter into this agreement and have not been forced or pressured in any way to sign it.”
Many of the terminated employees had waited nearly two years for their onboarding at Infosys. They had been issued job offer letters in 2022 but were only brought onboard in 2024, following legal intervention by NITES. As part of the separation package, Infosys offered one month’s salary—around Rs 25,000—as compensation. Once employees signed the agreement, the company retrieved their laptops and escorted them to a bus to vacate the premises immediately.
Challenging the terminations, NITES president Harpreet Singh Saluja wrote to Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on February 8. In his letter, Saluja accused Infosys of “illegally” and “unethically” terminating employees without adhering to due process.
“The company has acted in blatant disregard of established labour laws, failing to follow due process before terminating employees and engaging in coercive tactics that violate their fundamental rights,” Saluja wrote. He further noted that Infosys initiated the onboarding process only after persistent complaints by NITES.
He also alleged that Infosys forced employees to sign “mutual separation” agreements under duress, without informed consent. Additionally, he pointed out that the company provided no prior notice or severance package to cushion the impact of their abrupt job loss.
Infosys has maintained that the terminated trainees signed their separation agreements voluntarily. The company reiterated that all fresh recruits are required to clear internal assessments as a standard hiring practice.
“At Infosys, we have a rigorous hiring process where all freshers, after undergoing extensive foundational training at our Mysuru campus, are expected to clear internal assessments. 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 and ensures a high quality of talent availability for our clients,” Infosys said in a statement.
