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In times of economic hardships, recessions and layoffs, multiple tech companies are finding different reasons for firing employees to reduce the workforce. Recently cognizant fired 20000+ employees (6% of total workforce) after background checks
Accenture has fired approximately 2000 employees recently because of fake documents submitted during the joining process by the candidates/freshers
Credentials are being checked off people who were hired during COVID-19, and many more will be fired after the completion of checks
The technology major discovered an effort to use letters from fraudulent firms to obtain offers
Accenture’s India unit has fired employees found to have used fake documents and experience letters to obtain jobs at the firm. It is unclear how many employees were impacted.
A similar thing has been done by cognizant.
After forged documents and fake experience letters led to the layoffs at Accenture India, a similar event has reportedly led to the sacking of employees at Cognizant India. As per an ETNow report, Cognizant India has said that it had a 6 per cent involuntary attrition in Q2.
The number of layoffs due to failed background checks and moonlighting has increased over the last few months. As companies resume work from office, background checks are increasing, making such incidents more common.
The report adds that attrition in this sense can be thought of as a euphemism for sacking. Even Cognizant India’s head Rajesh Nambiar said that there was high involuntary attrition due to failed background checks, as per the report.
Along with faked letters and documentation, other companies including Twitter, Meta, and others have also seen large-scale layoffs. Although corporations have fired workers largely to save costs, this has had an impact on thousands of people who lost their employment quickly.
NEW DELHI: In a setback to Cognizant Technology Solutions, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has ordered it to pay dividend distribution tax (DDT) on Rs 19,080-crore share buyback in the assessment year 2017-18.
During the assessment year 2017-18, Cognizant bought 94,00,534 equity shares from its shareholders in the US and Mauritius at Rs 20,297 per share, totalling Rs 19,080 crore. The Chennai ITAT in an order dated 13 September held that this repurchase, carried out through a scheme sanctioned by the court under sections 391-393 of the Companies Act, 1956, amounted to the distribution of accumulated profits, and therefore is deemed a dividend under the Income Tax Act.
The ITAT rejected the Assessee’s argument that the court-approved scheme provided immunity from taxation, citing the Gujarat High Court and Supreme Court rulings as irrelevant. The ITAT also noted that while the court’s approval was binding, it did not grant immunity from tax obligations. The ITAT upheld the decision of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) to consider the transactions as dividends.
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