Bengaluru: A London tribunal has handed Wipro employee Shreya Ukil, whom the company sacked in October 2015, a partial victory, saying that she had been victimized by several senior company officials for complaining against pay disparity and that she had been unfairly dismissed. Wipro found comfort in the judgement in as much as the tribunal dismissed Ukil’s complaint of “wrongful dismissal” and did not ask the company to revoke her dismissal.
The tribunal has also reserved judgement on the main issue -- whether Ms. Ukil did like work with the comparators of her grade and whether Wipro had or had not established a material factor in defence of the alleged pay disparity. It is also yet to rule on the settlement that Wipro would need to pay Ms. Ukil, who had sued the company for a million pounds.
Wipro had sacked Ms. Ukil (39), who was the company’s head of sales for Europe, and a senior colleague Manoj Punja (54) charging that they had failed to disclose to the company their romantic relationship, but the dismissal came in the midst of a running battle inside the company after Ms. Ukil, who had been with the company for almost 10 years, had begun to complain since 2012 that she was being paid only half the salary, about 75,000 pounds a year, that her male peers were being paid although she was a star performer.
Ms. Ukil had told the tribunal that she had been frequently targeted with innuendo and sexist remarks, including being called ‘manipulative bitch’, by former colleagues Sid Sharma and George Joseph. Her escalation of the matter through Wipro’s hierarchy, passing through the company’s HR head Saurabh Govil, its diversity chief Sunita Cherian, chief legal counsel Inderpreet Sawhney, right up to then CEO T.K. Kurien, only resulted in intense victimization.
She was not allowed to find another job in Europe, was forced to return to India to contain legal damage, and finally even her resignation – sent directly to Wipro chairman Azim Premji, who had assured her of fair treatment -- was not accepted, instead she was sacked, Ukil had alleged. The tribunal upheld the charges of victimization, sexist remarks and unfair dismissal. The judgement also said that the “direction had come from the very top” to ensure that she was forced to return to India and that she was removed from the job.
Wipro responds
“Wipro Limited is pleased the UK Employment Tribunal has upheld the dismissal of the complainant from the services of the organization as appropriate and rejected claims of adverse cultural attitude towards women in the organization. The company has built its business over the years by ensuring it adheres to the highest standards of integrity, fairness, and ethical corporate practices. Any transgression of these beliefs and policies will continue to be dealt with expeditiously and with the strictest action. We have been recognized in various fora for our progressive and proactive Inclusion & Diversity frameworks. For several years now, Wipro has had a Global Prevention of Sexual Harassment Committee (PSHC), an impartial body for investigation, with members across locations, including an external expert. All such matters are reviewed at the highest level at Wipro and we will continue with this practice."
