Pvt firm shelves GOI advisory, sacks eight employees in Kupwara

Mohammad Tahir

Srinagar, May 31 (RNA): Despite of a standing advisory of Union Government against sacking of employees amid Covid lockdown, , a private company has terminated its eight employees  in Kupwar district of  Kashmir without prior intimation compounding not only the stress but also downing the moral of their families which have been severely dependent on their earning for survival.
On March 20, the company’s had sent a message and gave directions to its employees on their official WhatsApp group, Orion Edutech Tangdhar, wherein they instructed them to work from their homes, said Zahoor Ahmad of Tangdar.
“we are 8 employees that were working in Orion Edu Tech Pvt Ltd since 2018 whose center was at Tangdar Karnah, we regularly worked with the company and registered our attendance on ERP online portal till March 31.” He told RNA
The group added that, “on 2nd April when we tried to log out our ERP attendance, but to our utter shock it showed that 21st March was our last working day, and it completely shows that the company had done tempering with our attendance.”
The employees that were working with this private company include Zahoor Ahmad s/o Manzoor Ahmad as center Manager, Aijaz Ahmad s/o Mohammad Youns Khawja CCE Trainer, Ishtiyaq Ahmad s/o Abdul Rashid Lone FOA Trainer, Hilal Ahmad s/o Mohammad Subhan FOA Trainer, Mashkoor Ahmad s/o Mohammad Maqbool Sheikh Marketing Executive, Irshad Ahmad s/o Nazir Ahmad Sheikh Marketing Executive, Bilal Ahmad s/o Abdul Rashid Sheikh Office Boy, and Kazim Joo s/o Qasim Joo as Soft Skill Trainer.
“Without intimation mail, how they have terminated us and that too in this pandemic situation which violates the corporate law.” asked Zahoor.
Orion Edutech Pvt Ltd is a skill development under the Pradhan Mantri Koshal Vikas Yojuna (PMKVY).
Ironically their sacking has come at a time when an advisory from Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India New Delhi stands issued to all Employers Association vide their D O No: M-11011/08/2020-Media, dated March 20, 2020 aksing them to refrain from sacking employees amid pandemic.
The advisory said the world is facing a catastrophic situation due to outbreak of COVID-19 and in order to combat this challenge, coordinated joint efforts of all sections of the society are required.
In view of the above, there may be incidence that employees/workers services are dispensed with on this pretext or the employees/workers are forced to go on leave without wage/salaries, said advisory.
In the backdrop of such challenging situation, all the employers of Public/Private Establishment are advised to extend their coordination by not terminating their employees, particularly casual or contractual workers from job or reduce their wages.
If any worker takes leave, he should be deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages for this period. Further, if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due to COVID-19, the employees of such unit will be deemed to on duty.
Advisory that is lying with RNA further said that, the termination of employees from the job or reduction in wages in this scenario would further deepen the crises and will not only weaken the financial condition of the employee but also hamper their morale to combat their fight with this epidemic.
“In view of this, you are requested to circulate this advisory to the Employers/Owners of all the establishments registered with your association for compliance.” reads the advisory.