ICICI Bank Ex-Employees Approach Local Labour Offices Alleging Illegal Termination

Multiple former employees of ICICI Bank Ltd. have approached regional labour authorities alleging illegal termination, according to documents seen by NDTV Profit.

Regional labour offices in Kota, Mumbai, Bikaner, Guwahati, Udaipur, Karnal, Rourkela and Vijaywada have received complaints from various former employees and have begun conciliation proceedings between the bank and workers.

All the complaints pertain to alleged illegal termination of services by the private lender. ICICI Bank calls it "voluntary abandonment due to stopping reporting to work."

NDTV Profit is also in receipt of a document stating that as many as 782 individuals were removed on grounds of the employees stopping reporting to work. When contacted, ICICI Bank categorically denied any such claims.

"There are instances where employees – predominantly at the entry level – do not properly complete formalities when leaving their previous organisation to join a new company. This trend is commonly observed across the BFSI industry," the bank said in a statement.

"In such cases, employees simply stop reporting for work. When the absenteeism continues despite multiple notifications, companies treat these instances as voluntarily abandonment of services, also referred to as ‘stop reporting’. Interpreting this phenomenon, where employees leave on their own accord, as ‘removal by companies’ is grossly incorrect," it added.

Further, ICICI Bank added that it knows of "only one individual" that has approached the labour authority. "We would like to categorially state that there is no adverse order from CLC/RLC on this matter."

Backdrop

To be sure, this is not a fresh charge by the ex-employees against the bank. Since June last year, the Chief Labour Commissioner has been in receipt of complaints against the bank and has issued notices for joint discussions.

Also Read: ICICI Bank Head Summoned By Labour Ministry Over Alleged Illegal Termination Of Staff

In a notice dated Nov. 11, 2024, the office of the Chief Labour Commissioner issued a memo, stating that after discussions with the complainants and the bank, it found that the management "has not adequately complied with the principle of the natural justice while initiating action to terminate the services of the compliant and others, thus the action of the management amounts to Unfair Labour Practices."

The CLC (C) also "persuaded" the bank's management to take any other lenient action other than the termination of services of the employees. NDTV Profit has reviewed a copy of this notice.