Wipro dismisses harassment charge, says employee, former BPO head violated firm’s policy

India’s third-largest software exporter Wipro has strongly dismissed the sexual discrimination and harassment allegations from former employee Shreya Ukil, terming them as “insidious and defamatory” and said that both Ukil and former BPO head Manoj Punja were terminated from the company after it was established “beyond reasonable doubt” that both of them had violated the company’s code of conduct.

“Wipro’s policy on conflict of interest requires employees to disclose to the organization any personal relationship that could create conflict. Failure to disclose such relationships would result in disciplinary action including and up to separation. Following an impartial inquiry, both Manoj Punja and Shreya Ukil were relieved from the services of the company after it was established beyond reasonable doubt that they had violated the stated policy,” a Wipro spokesperson said in an email to ET.

Wipro termed the accusations made by Ukil as “scurrilous” and said it intended to initiate legal proceedings to defend itself against the allegations.

“Wipro takes serious objection to the scurrilous allegations made against the company and will initiate legal action to defend itself against insidious and defamatory allegations. 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 are dealt with expeditiously and with the strictest action. Our guiding principles have always been matters of the highest priority for our leadership and they have consistently set the tone from the top, through examples in action and thought,” Wipro said in the email.

Earlier, Shreya Ukil, a former Wipro employee at the company’s London office, had alleged that she was subjected to severe sexual harassment by male colleagues in London and has filed a suit claiming 1.2 million pounds in damages, claiming that she was also subjected to gender discrimination, unequal pay and unfair dismissal.

On Wednesday, UK-based The Telegraph reported that 39-year-old Ukil had alleged that she was subjected to a “deeply predatory, misogynistic culture” at Wipro.

In the suit, the employee Ukil has alleged that she was discriminated against in terms of her pay in comparison to male colleagues at similar positions and has accused former Wipro executive Manoj Punja who was her manager of forcing her to have an affair with him.

This case isn’t the first such instance of sexual harassment against women in the IT industry. In September ET had reported that two-thirds of companies on the Nifty, a 50-stock benchmark index of the NSE, reported cases of sexual harassment in the previous financial year and an examination of the annual reports of 46 Nifty companies showed a total of 415 cases, with 80% of these in information technology (IT) and banking firms.

Ukil and Punja could not be immediately reached for comment.

Former BPO head Punja resigned from Wipro last year, although ET could not immediately verify the exact reasons for his departure. Following Punja’s departure, Nagendra Bandaru became head of Wipro’s BPO business.

In the 1.2 million-pound suit, Ukil has claimed that she was forced into having an affair with an older boss.

Proceedings on this case commenced on Tuesday at a London-based employment tribunal, according to the Telegraph report.