NRI woman sues Wipro for gender bias

A former employee of Wipro, one of the world’s largest information technology companies, has accused the IT firm of sexual discrimination, unequal pay, harassment and unfair dismissal and filed a suit claiming 1.2 million pounds (12 crore) in damages.

In the complaint, which is being heard by the Central London employment tribunal, Shreya Ukil also alleged that she was forced to have an affair with a married senior executive – Manoj Punja who was a senior vice president at the company at the time, the newspaper reported, citing the ongoing hearings at the tribunal. “Women who supported women are called lesbians”, she alleged.

According to the woman, in 2013, when she was going on a business trip to Stockholm, Sweden, her boss allegedly told that the blouse she was wearing was “too tight” for her body type.

“The woman employee (39-year-old Shreya Ulkil) and her superior Manoj Punja, 54, were relieved from service after an inquiry established that they were in a relationship but did not report about it to the company as a policy”, a Wipro spokesperson told IANS. “Any transgression of these beliefs and policies are dealt with expeditiously and with the strictest action”, the statement asserted. 39-year-old Ms Ukil is also claiming harassment and unfair dismissal, according to the report. Indian-born Ukil said she embarked on the affair despite finding Punja’s conversation inane and that he suffered on occasion from a certain body odor.

Terming the atmosphere for women techies at the office “toxic”, Ukil said they (women employees) were called “emotional”, “psychotic” or “menopausal” if they were confident, capable and express viewpoints. Wipro veteran Punja was the CEO of the BPO business since June 2012. “Wipro is defending these allegations before the court”, a statement by Wipro Ltd said. Punja is now the executive vice president responsible for global sales, solutions and client services in Bengaluru-based IT firm Microland.

Ukil claimed she was punished for submitting to those advances and for daring to speak out.

A number of other women had left Wipro because of similar experiences, her statement to the tribunal claimed, the Telegraph reported.

Miss Ukil, who lives in Kensington, West London, said that she was made to work in “deeply predatory, misogynistic culture” that caused her to have a mental breakdown and led to her sacking.

Immigration expert and former PwC Director Rajkamal Rao said the female victim (whose name has been made public in the British press) has admitted that she was in a consensual relationship with her male boss – a situation that clearly violated Wipro’s rules about conflict of interest.

However Wipro said that they believed in equal treatment to all employees. Failure to disclose such relationships would result in disciplinary action including and up to separation.