CDK Global Lays off 200 Employees, Withholds Termination Letters

CDK Global, a US-based IT company, which has offices in Pune and Hyderabad, has laid off close to 200 employees on July 13, allegedly without any prior notice.

According to a press release by Forum of IT Professionals, MD of CDK Global had admitted to retrenching employees and has claimed that the exercise was a part of their actions on “role redundancies”.

“I was called into the meeting room and was told that I had 30 minutes to pack by belongings and leave the company. I was asked not to come back to the company. No letter or documents were given to me – not even my termination letter. I still haven’t received any communication regarding my termination letter, but my ID card has been taken back and all access to the company has been revoked. I was just informed verbally not to come to the company anymore,” said an employee, on the condition of anonymity.

Newsclickreached out to Kiran Chandra, president of the Forum of IT Professionals (ForIT). He said, “This is nothing but a blatant disregard of the law. Labour laws are very clear in the case of role redundancies – the company has to approach the labour department and seek permission. Only when such a permission is granted, the company can take any action. No such permission was given by the labour department. This, clearly, is a situation of lawlessness.”

Chandra further claimed that not giving the termination letter is a deliberate act by the management. “The employees have simply been asked not to come to the company; their ID cards were taken and access has been blocked. But, the company is intentionally holding back their termination letters. For an employee to raise a dispute at the labour commissioner’s office, they need to submit the termination letter. The management is worried that the employees might fight back, and hence is resorting to all such illegal methods”.

Forum of IT Professionals has extended full support to the employees, and has demanded that the employees be given back their jobs. ForIT has also demanded that the government take suo motu action against CDK Global’s management for violating the law.