The SBI has asked its zonal offices to examine who all of the employees of its erstwhile associate banks got compensation for overtime post-demonetisation period. The bank wants them to return wages paid as overtime compensation. (Photo: PTI)

More than 70,000 employees of associate banks of the State Bank of India are angry. Banking staff worked overtime post-demonetisation to meet the demands of long queues of people waiting to exchange old notes with the new ones and maintain working with bare minimum cash supply.

The bank staff had been promised "overtime compensation" by the employer banks for the "extra hours" they worked post-demonetisation. The 70,000 officers and employees of banks like State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur - these all merged with the SBI on April 1, 2017 - got the compensation but now they are being asked to "return the compensation for extra work".

The SBI has issued a communication to all the zonal headquarters saying that only "its own employees" and not those, who were employees of the E-Ab or erstwhile associate banks were supposed to get the money for extra work during note-ban window from it.

The State Bank of India has instructed its various zones to examine the recovery of the "compensation" given to officers of its erstwhile associate banks. The SBI communication states that compensation was meant for exclusively for those, who were working in SBI branches.

It states that as the erstwhile associate banks had not merged with the SBI at the time of demonetisation, the responsibility to pay the staff compensation for overtime lies with the five employer banks and not the SBI. These five banks were autonomous entities back then, the SBI argues.

The communication says, "The claim related to the period prior to the merger of e-Abs (erstwhile associate banks) should have been dealt by e-Abs at the material time and we have no record of any commitment to pay the same." It adds that instruction issued earlier this year for payment of compensation was only in respect of those, who worked in SBI branches.

The stern communication asks for a review and "examine under what circumstances approval was given for the payment of compensation to the officers of e-ABs". It even lays down that appropriate action may be initiated agains the erring officials

The compensation was for working beyond office hours. Lakhs of employees worked for three-eight hours extra daily to meet the chaotic rush between November 16 and December 30 in 2016. The compensation for officers was as high as Rs 30,000 and other staff around Rs 17,000. It was paid from what is called the "out of pocket expense between March and May this year".

Now, the powerful bank unions are unhappy. They claim that the recovery order was totally unfair as a merger automatically means a takeover of both the assets and liabilities of the merging entities. The grouse is that compensation was due from December 31, 2016 and didn't happen for almost year.

India Today tried to contact SBI for its views on the issue but the largest bank in India didn't respond. However, a senior official, on the condition of anonymity, said, "The compensation was paid erroneously. Salaries and other dues of the employees of the erstwhile associate banks, which merged with the SBI in 2017, were not the liability of the SBI in March-May 2018. That's why a scrutiny has been ordered."

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