IT employees' forum says Cognizant has terminated one of its leader

Company cites performance issues and client feedback as reasons for the termination

The Forum for IT Employees (FITE) has alleged that information technology (IT) major Cognizant terminated one of its leaders on Tuesday as part of its recently announced job cut plan. The organisation, along with other unions — New Democratic Labour Front (NDLF) and Union of IT and ITES Employees (UNITE) — has condemned the move and approached labour department officials.

“Cognizant recently terminated this employee, who had been with the company for about five months, for performance reasons and based on client feedback. Our decision is consistent with the terms of our contracts with all of our employees,” said a Cognizant spokesperson.

FITE alleged that the general secretary of its Maharashtra unit, Elavarasan Raja, was terminated and the reason cited for the move was that he could not secure any projects in five months even though 17 opportunities were given. The forum said that Raja was ready to take up the projects and work on any shift available and was ready for upskilling or reskilling based on the need.

FITE, NDLF, UNITE and other affected employees jointly met with the Tamil Nadu State Labour Commissioner in Chennai, according to the forum.