The Labour Commissioner’s office in Pune has sent a summon to e-commerce giant Amazon and Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) regarding its massive layoffs and voluntary separation policy.
As per the summon, the assistant Labour commissioner requested Amazon and its union representatives to be present at the commissioner’s office on the 17th of January at 3 PM. The commissioner will be taking necessary actions following an inquiry into the unethical and illegal layoffs of Amazon.
Harpreet Singh Saluja, President of NITES, stated that 1000 employees and their families’ livelihoods have now been made vulnerable. He also mentioned that according to the procedures under the Industrial Dispute Act, an employee could only be laid off only with prior permission from the authorized government.
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Amazon issued a voluntary separation policy to its employees in November 2022, enabling them to resign voluntarily. Employees who did not apply for the policy were included in the workforce optimization announced by Amazon.
As per Saluja, Amazon violated the Indian Labour laws as the voluntary separation policy of Amazon was never proposed to the Labour Ministry for review. An employee who has served continuously for a year in a company can only be laid off if served a notice period of three months in advance.
