HYDERABAD

08 May 2019 08:00 IST

Deduction for facility leaves techies fuming

It was an open secret for sometime now but resentment against tech giant Infosys’ levy of parking fees from its employees has bubbled out in the open.

Those in the know, including employees, confirmed to The Hindu that the company has been deducting ₹250 per month for two-wheelers, and ₹500 per month for cars, from employees’ salaries.

“I live 20 km from the office and I use my four-wheeler. It is true that they have been deducting money from salary accounts. We have spoken about it in our internal communications and have raised the issue privately. But so far, there has been no headway,” said an employee, requesting anonymity.

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Another employee said, “I am relatively new. I was told that this was not the case a few years ago. But now, they are deducting money which, they said, goes into a welfare trust or fund,” he said.

The issue was brought to the attention of activist Vijay Gopal from The Forum Against Corruption, who has liaised with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Labour Department of the Telangana government.

“As it is, the company is given a lot of concessions by being in a Special Economic Zone. There are other perks as well. I was shocked when I found out about this. I hope that the SEZ authorities take a note of this activity,” Mr. Gopal said, and claimed that the campus is governed by the Shops and Establishments Act. The activist also citied GO 63, which specifies how parking fee should be collected. However, an Infosys spokesperson forwarded to The Hindu a letter which stated that GO 63 not inapplicable to the software major as it does not use its ‘parking facility as a commercial activity’ — the facility is used exclusively for its employees.

“The charges collected from the employees as a deduction from salary, is accounted as a fund with the Infosys Employees Welfare Trust which utilises the same for maintenance and upkeep of the parking facility,” the letter states.

The sporkesperson said the complaint against the ‘charges’ were ‘motivated’ and ‘frivolous’.