Published On : Mon, Nov 30th, 2015

GM of IT Company suspended for demanding sexual favours from female employees

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128 employees sacked for no fault of theirs.

Nagpur: Seeking personal favours from employees is pretty common in India. However, seeking sexual favours from female employees by male bosses is not only a crime, but is also looked at as bad for the image of the company.

In a startling fact that has come to fore, the General Manager of an IT firm in Nagpur (A company which specializes in GIS and Engineering Services Solutions having its building at IT Park) at the time or recruitment or while working in the firm is allegedly said to have sought sexual favours from the female employees working under him. This incident is said to have been occurring for the last many months in the said IT firm in IT Park in the city.

According to reliable sources, suddenly the entire staff of Design Section of the said company numbering 28 was removed two months ago for reasons best known to the company management. This was followed by another 100 employees being sacked for no reason.

Some of the female employees who had applied are said to have allegedly reported the sexual harassment inside the office and the manner in which the General Manager of the said IT Company sought sexual favours from them.

The female employees did not find anybody to listen to them. However, one of the girls gathered her guts and is said to have allegedly approached the owner of the said IT Company and reported about the General Manager who has been allegedly harassing the young girls and female employees demanding sexual favours from them.

Some of the female employees on condition of anonymity alleged that he used to sexually assault (non-consensual sexual touching of a person) them on more than one occasions. The female employee is not just any common employee by a Human Resources (HR) Executive.

Realizing the seriousness of the issue, the management of the said IT Company is said to have sent the allegedly accused General Manager of the IT firm on three months’ suspension.

However, since a General Manager is highly qualified as knows all the nuances and secrets of the company, he cannot be sacked immediately or that easily. So he has been suspended for three months to pacify the female employees and later on may call him back into service.

128 employees retrench or sacked?
Nearly 125 young men and women have been sacked claiming of poor performance. However, what one fails to understand is that the Performance Appraisal is undertaken either in the month of December or February (March year ending). Why has a company which has been doing well sacked 125 employees in September is beyond understanding. Most of them have been forced to tender their resignations.

Sources close to the employees alleged that the company owner saw that the Managing Director of the said IT Company are making money on the side and are living a lavish life-style. Irked by their indifference to the work, the first step was to ask them to remove 25 employees followed by another 100 employees to instill a fear in the Managing Director.

Does this suffice?
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is a legislative Act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work. The Act came into force from 9 December 2013. Most Indian employers have not implemented the law despite the legal requirement that any workplace with more than 10 employees need to implement it. The government has threatened to take stern action against employers who fail to comply with this law. However, till date many of these employers have not yet made a redressal cell in their company premises nor are these vile acts by the employers heard.