non-compete clause in the IT services provider’s job offers.
A clause in the letter restricts employees from joining ‘named competitors’ or any of Infosys’ clients directly for six months after leaving their jobs.
The ministry will hold a joint discussion before the Chief Labour Commissioner in New Delhi on April 28.
Infosys’ group head for human resources, Krish Shankar, and Harpreet Singh Saluja, the president of Pune-based labour union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate, which had filed the complaint, have received the communication from the ministry.
ET has reviewed a copy of the notice.
The labour union has sought removal of the non-compete agreement clause in the offer letters.
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Infosys did not respond to ET’s queries till press time Wednesday.
According to the agreement, an employee shall not accept for six months an employment offer from “named competitors” such as TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies, among others, if the new job involves working with a customer with whom the employee has worked in the preceding 12 months during his/her stint at Infosys.
It also says that for six months an employee should not accept employment offers from a customer with whom he/she has directly worked in the preceding 12 months.
“It is a standard business practice in many parts of the world for employment contracts to include controls of reasonable scope and duration to protect confidentiality of information, customer connection and other legitimate business interests,”
Infosys had told ET last week.
The conditions are fully disclosed to all job aspirants before they decide to join Infosys, and do not prevent employees from joining other organisations, according to the statement.
The IT industry has been battling an acute talent crunch for the last few quarters.
The attrition rate at Infosys hit 27.7% for the quarter ended March 31, while the metric stood at 17.4% at bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services.
