After long stint, retrenched Raymond staff stare at tough legal battle

Company denies retrenching 'workers', says cost rationalisation has impacted some managerial positions

In the first week of May, Dhirendra Mishra, a manager at Raymond, was called for a meeting with the management. The government had just begun relaxing the lockdown norms and resumption of economic activities was in the air.

Mishra, who worked in the store department at the Raymond’s textile plant in Chhindwara (Madhya Pradesh), went to a guest house in the company’s residential complex for the meeting. A human resources executive and his supervisor were already there, and Mishra guessed the meeting was about a salary cut that the company may announce. But what followed in the next few minutes left