Legal opinion tilts against Evalueserve

Our Legal Guide has spoken. We are also helped by many Journo friends who’ve spoken to leading Lawyers and given us tremendously valuable feedback. This is in continuation of our last post BPO Union questions Evalueserve HR practices

From the word go, Evalueserve (and others running the same set of work conditions, IF they do so) are in the wrong, legally speaking. We are only trying to find out till now, and once we are sure accusations will fly. Till then it’s only a fact-finding mission for us.

If violating Companies were prosecuted (considering that were violating) then the total outstanding wage dues (collectively) would run into millions of dollars. Let us do some math.

Each employee working only 10 hrs over-time a week would have to be paid around Rs 100 per hour as over-time. For a KPO Company running even as low as 500 employees it clearly touches half-a-million-dollars mark per year.

Now multiply it by the number of KPO/ BPO (include IT to) Companies who indulge in this practice and we run into a few hundred million dollars.

Qualifying for probably the biggest ever BPO scam in history.

Whatever is said below is w.r.t the Service Industry (and Professional Services), which are generously being exempted of many provisions by most State Govts.

Allow us to share information we’ve managed to get together:

• The first thing a company caught in this cross-fire would do is to show a copy of an exemption from the State Shop and Establishments Act. Which would only be a half-baked truth, legally speaking.
• The above exemption is clear only when it comes to permission for working ‘after hours’ which are defined as ‘between 8 pm and 6 am or for women doing a night shift. It is also unambiguous when it comes to comply with the number of working hours employees can be made to work. For everything else it is very unclear.
• The exemption given to companies are almost silent on ‘exemption for pay’ on any over-time work put in by employees. Leaving it open to interpretation.
• The combined legal opinion goes totally against the companies who will make employees work beyond 8 hrs and not pay them any overtime. Incidentally overtime is usually calculated at twice the hourly wage (on gross salary).
• Now comes an interesting part. One State Govt which has given sweeping exemptions (but not a specific one exempting companies from over-time pay) which say that the exemptions shall be withdrawn on any ‘genuine complaint’ by an employee.
• Now let us go back and look at pay-against-work in a stand-alone light. Any Court of this country would take no more than a single hearing to pass a clear order in favor of an employee who worked extra and did not get paid for it.

Here’s the deal now – we are in the process of finding out from Labor Commissioners of Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and a few smaller hubs of BPO activity in India. Once we get a clear picture of wrong-doing by companies following the practice we will initiate public action as well as legal action through a few volunteers (thanks) who would sue their respective companies and their respective labor offices for collection of their dues.

For everyone who has helped us, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We request your continued patronage to the combined efforts.

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

BPO Union questions Evalueserve HR practices

How long should a working shift last without paying over-time?

BPO Union wants to question Evalueserve (EVS for short) HR practices. We received information from a few ex-EVS employees last week and we decided to check. Initially it was difficult to believe that EVS, a path breaking KPO of exceptional repute, would do anything out of line. Still we made up our minds to investigate the matter at depth.

This is what surfaced on preliminary findings:

• Secondary information from serving and ex-EVS employees confirmed that the company offers a 10 hr shift, with a 1 hr break for food/ rest.
• The above fact is communicated to aspiring employees during the interview stage itself.
• We did not find out any evidence suggesting payment for over-time beyond the mandatory 8 hr shift of work, which is universally accepted as ‘a-fair-day’s-work-shift’. This must be looked into deeper.
• The general treatment meted out to employees (by EVS) was acceptable to them.
• A lot of information to the above effect is already available on various websites/ blogs etc if one were to search for it. Supposedly, most of it posted by EVS themselves (of course on the quiet) or at its behest, but there is nothing wrong indulging in surrogate PR.

Now comes the part where we step in to take action:

• Looks like the Labor Department in key BPO Cities will be kept busy from now. Hope you remember the IBM Daksh case where they have been taken to court by an ex-employee under violation of Labor Laws. The gentleman sought our support and got it, the issue is still under progress. Braveheart Employee takes IBM Daksh to Labor Court
• A letter will be sent to the Labor Commissioner to investigate if the current practice is acceptable under legal and policy provisions. If not then a request for stringent action will be made. We shall follow it with other methods to initiate response via immense public pressure.
• We are yet to get a proper legal scrutiny to the issue. Remember our earliest posts where we told you that a very highly sought after legal mind has agreed to help our cause – well given paucity of time the Lawyer has not yet given us expert opinion, it is expected early next week.
• The most important point we want to make and the question we want to put up is – Should we be working more than 8 hrs without over-time pay?
• We are also of the opinion that if Companies are found to violate any law by not paying beyond the 8 hr shift, then they should be made to pay up to all the employees, who in the past have put in extra time, and were not paid for it. We are sure that if this were to happen, any Company Management’s heart would sink at the numbers.
• If any Company is found guilty in this practice, we will intervene to initiate an enquiry into ALL BPOs (includes KPOs) across the length and breath of our great Country. The dues would run into millions of dollars!
• One surprising fact came out of this initial exercise – that the probable culprits (if our charge comes out true, and is legally tenable) are a majority of high-end KPOs, and a large part of them is captives of foreign firms.
• On continuing thought we’ll also seek some clarification from the Labor Ministry, GOI, early next week too.

We invite a debate on this issue, emails preferred (bpounuion@gmail.com). We also invite more friends who’d like to help us with concrete information (or evidence of wrong-doing) by any company on the issue so that we are able to take it up even more strongly.

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

BPO Union wins without fighting – BPIAI clueless

We did mildly succeed in restraining the eTrack (BPIAI) yet we did not reach the mark we had set for ourselves. Now is the time to see what else could have happened and to make some other observations.

We are in introspection mode. We want to destroy our enemies – and here’s how.

Our benchmark is not – getting cheap press, or being heard loud, or getting into bloody battles, or hurting someone’s interest … or many other things one would generally associate with Unions and sometimes with large companies.

Far from it, we believe in winning without a fight. And how does that come by. It comes by the realization from ‘everyone’ that something is wrong and needs to be corrected. For us it comes by way of getting our point across to the rest of us. We believe in willing, not forceful submission.

We do know that BPO Heads and Association Heads are all big guns. Mostly people who pass orders to a very large workforce – so not getting your way on things must be hurting to you and your big egos, we understand. But why behave in such an immature way even if you did not win your point, that is something we fail to comprehend. Help us understand if you would.

Post the drama staged by BPIAI we look into reasons:

• The BPIAI has started doing what most politicians would do when cornered. They have questioned our validity in the first place. Let us accept before anyone else that we do not matter. Issues of importance that we take up for collective good, that does matter. So we’ll request the BPIAI to stop trying the mud-slinging. It does not affect us in any way but it brings down your own reputation as an association and as individuals. If maligning your own selves is what you’d like then be our guest.
• We’ve heard everyone at BPIAI wanting us to come talk to management. Why is there this ‘superior-than-thou’ attitude so important to their self-bloated egos. Is it very hard for them to come to our Blog and air their views? This is a question they will have to answer to the workforce, to the media, and to many others who may ask.
• When actually cornered BPIAI has started speaking in different voices. Conflicting statements in different media. For more than 3 years they have maintained that attrition is a big problem needing to be contained. Then suddenly the slowing economy seems to make the problem disappear. Then someone says that they may not need eTrack anymore, issue resolved. Then they tell us that 4 (or 5) BPOs have already enrolled and that the initiative will go on. So where does the truth lie in all this. At one end, the other or somewhere in between. Is there a truth that lies beyond all that has been stated. The questions beg an answer that BPIAI should provide to keep their credibility in order.
• The BPOs who have enrolled, need to find out their legal options. What if an employee sues them for breach of his/her confidential information. Look at the prevailing laws, and look hard enough, you’ll find that a woman can take you to court and get you  seriously-legally answerable for even putting her name on a shared database, leave alone other things. Not just the legal side of it, ultimately BPOs will realise that employees are not going to let themselves being subjected to this humiliation. Of being reduced to ‘commodities’ or ‘resources’ or ‘assets’.
• We’ve had some very interesting observations from a few journos. They have pointed out that the BPIAI has been an all-talk-no-walk show since its inception. Thanks to them we now know that they launched a few very good programs like eKaliber and eSecure but then forgot to promote them. Or they were not good enough for the industry. In the end they were both aborted. Interestingly the partners to these programs were successful firms in their respective businesses, who have given rather bitter after-taste stories to journos when asked about their experiences with BPIAI.
• So we see that it is not us who did anything to them, seems that they are out to get some personal publicity and cheap press. But that is their problem, or maybe publicity is all they want, and are getting it.

Let us turn to some fresh thinking which may throw up some answers or solutions …

• If these guys at BPIAI were so smart then they would understand the real essence of a BPO Union … a ‘union’ of everyone, including the companies.
• They have to understand that employers, associations and employees will have to coexist. There is no other way out. The sooner they understand the better it is for the industry. And only then, in the real sense would we have achieved a “BPO Union”.

As we started by saying it, permit us to complete it at the end … We want to ‘destroy our enemies – by making them our friends’ – is this too hard to understand and imbibe, you tell us!

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

BPIAI hits legal deadend on eTrack – BPO Union performs yet again

We have to give it to our detractors. You pushed us to extreme performance when you felt that we would be just another flash in the pan. Each day we try to avoid what we fear most – failure.

Since we take up the right issues, ones that we really should, and get the backing of our peers and friends – we win yet again.

eTrack (BPIAI) is not happening anymore, halting NSR (NASSCOM) is our next effort.

We also thank friends in the media who took the ‘truth’ to the masses. This is what happened …

http://www.techgoss.com/Story/754S14-eTrack-hits-deadlock.aspx

http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20080925/1059/tbs-now-e-track-goes-offtrack.html

e-track-plans-scuttled-bpo-union-joel-joseph

The BPIAI is not able to implement the program since the BPO Union questioned the legal validity of the proposed database, as also the peddling of such information among the members of the association. Now, everybody knows that this would be held against people’s right to privacy as it would against data privacy under legal provisions in Indian Law. After we pointed out legal loopholes, the association went into overdrive to save face. They came out with a seemingly brilliant solution – to get all employees and involved employers (Companies) to sign a declaration which would allow them to upload the data, hence trying to make it legal. But at last they just could not, hence you will find that the initiative is softly dropped.

Also read related posts on our Blog:
Retract & Recall – Etrack, National Skills Registry
BPO Industry Association concedes to BPO Union

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

Why are we silent?

We have 24 mails so far asking us – why have we been silent for so many weeks?

First, be assured that this is a long term initiative, with serious overtones. Failure is not an option. Only the degree of success is.

Second, being silent does not mean we are idle. Our team is working judiciously to ensure long term success for achievement of our goals.

Third, there are periods when you bite and then silently chew on the cud. This is what’s happening now. We are in the process of closing things we started.

Fourth, please do not expect rhetoric from us, we are least interested in publicity and politics. Starting something with fanfare, and then putting it into cold storage is not the stuff we are made of. We will finish what we begin, period.

Fifth, expect us to play fair. It’s not as if we get up each morning to target someone with a big stick. There are efforts on the contrary too. We have recently supported a BPO Company where staff was wrongly inflicting pain on their employers, and have openly supported the Company. The troublesome staff member was given dependable legal advice which proved him to be on the wrong (legally speaking) and support of the BPO Union was clearly denied to him.

So if you think like most of us do on this forum of common thought, then you shall agree with our line of thought. Despite journos regularly contacting us for newsworthy content, we shall go out to the press with a plan, not out of distorted notions of our self-importance.

Hope this post satisfies most of you about our actions-in-continuance without the need for us to call from rooftops. We remain totally committed to the cause, and you shall see a big initiative on our call against BPIAI and NASSCOM soon … Retract & Recall – Etrack, National Skills Registry

For those who were wishing we forgot there’s something else coming …

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)