IT firm Wipro loses million-pound suit to ex-staffer

Shubhadeep Choudhury 

Tribune News Service 

Bengaluru, May 4

Wipro, one of India’s largest IT services firm, lost 1 million-pound lawsuit in a British court to  Shreya Ukil, a senior woman executive who took on the company on the question of equal pay, sex discrimination, unfair dismissal and victimisation.

Ukil claimed that the leadership team at Wipro, including the then CEO TK Kurien, had conspired to push her out of the job and out of her UK role. The court judgment found that “direction had come from the very top and was followed through with considerable resolve.”

The London Employment Tribunal found that Ukil was victimised by Wipro’s leadership team for speaking up on sex discrimination, unequal pay and a culture of sexism. Ukil, who worked with Wipro for almost 10 years and received numerous awards, started raising concerns in 2012, which went unheeded, said media reports. 

Instead of addressing Ukil’s concerns, a series of decisions were made by the management, including Inderpreet Sawhney, Wipro’s chief legal counsel, Saurabh Govil, global head, and Wipro CEO TK Kurien, in a bid to remove Ukil from her role in London.

Ukil raised her grievances with Wipro chairman Azim Premji, who assured her of a fair and impartial investigation. However, the grievance investigation dismissed Ukil’s claims. Ukil resigned in September 2014 in an email to Premji. Her resignation was rejected and she was fired four days later while  on sick leave.

The Tribunal found that comments made by Wipro employees Sid Sharma and George Joseph on separate occasions reflected an “extra undercurrent of sexism in their attitude” towards Ukil. 

The investigation into claims by Ukil conducted by Sunita Cherian, senior VP and Wipro’s global head on gender diversity, was heavily criticised by the tribunal that stated that “ Cherian found the complaint unfounded despite compelling evidence to the contrary”.

Ukil was also successful in an equal pay claim against Wipro after she discovered she was paid significantly less than her male colleagues for the same work. The judgment read that Wipro’s pay policies appeared to be “tainted with gender discrimination.”

“I hope that following this judgment, companies will again reconsider their treatment of female employees, ensuring they are treated fairly and equally. I hope that this verdict will encourage women everywhere at every level to raise their voice and be heard. It is undoubtedly a struggle and a very hard one but the only way to change this equation is by ensuring that it is brought to light. No organisation or person is too big that they can get away with unethical and illegal behaviour,” Ukil was quoted to have said.

There was no word on the verdict by Wipro.