A seven-year long court battle has finally ended in favour of Thirumalai Selvan, a Chennai techie who was fired by the IT major Tata Consultancy Services in mass layoffs in 2015. A city court ruled in Selvan’s favour ordering the company to reinstate him with continuity of service and pay back the full salary along with all other benefits from the date of his termination till the date of his reinstatement.
The Chennai court observed that Selvan’s primary role was that of a skilled worker.
48-year-old Selvan had worked for the IT major for over 8 years and held a managerial position before he was sacked by TCS saying his performance was not up to its expectations.
“The reason for not mentioning the petitioner’s other duties is nothing but a subterfuge, to camouflage his principal nature of duty,” DT Next newspaper quoted C Kumarappan, presiding officer, Principal Labour Court as saying.
Actually, TCS, in its argument, stated that Selvan was working in a managerial cadre and would not come under the category of ‘workman’.
Post his termination in 2015, the former TCS employee was forced to work as freelance consultant on software projects, along with taking up other odd jobs like real estate brokerage. After losing his job at TCS, Selvan’s monthly pay dropped to as low as Rs 10,000.
A mechanical engineer by graduation, Selvan worked in his core sector for four years before switching to the software lane in 2001. He became a part of TCS as an assistant systems engineer in 2006 after completing a course costing Rs 1 lakh.
Recalling his struggles, Selvan said, “I would have travelled to the court more than 150 times in the last seven years.” However, he was supported by the Forum for IT Employees (FITE) in the ‘tiring’ legal battle.
FITE, a labour union for techies, celebrated the judgement saying, “Justice anywhere is hope everywhere and a reminder to all who are forcing employees to resign. Great work done by Team FITE Chennai and salute to the TCS employee who fought for justice.”
