Chennai 29-11-2017
Press Release
The news of the demise of TCS employee, Moses Ranjan Raj (41), has left the IT sector and the employees of TCS with grief and shock. Moses who was working as a Delivery Manager at TCS passed away on 27/11/2017, 11:00 PM at his office during work due to heart attack.
On the fateful night, Moses was involved in a conference call with the on-site team in the U.S. Since he became silent during the course of the call, the on-site team informed to an offshore team mate to reach out to Moses. When he reached the desk of Moses, he witnessed Moses lying on the ground suffering from fits. Baffled by the scene, the team mate tried his best to recover Moses from fits and had also immediately alerted the security guards. Meanwhile Moses had fainted and also suffered fits for the second time.
The ambulance had reached the tower after 15 minutes of all these happenings. With the help of security guards Moses was boarded on to the ambulance. There was no doctor or nurse available in the ambulance to provide necessary first aid to Moses or to check his pulses and blood pressure. Since there was nobody else to accompany Moses to the hospital, the team mate had accompanied Moses in the ambulance. Unfortunately, Moses was declared ‘brought dead’ at the Chettinad Hospital.
This IT sector yields tremendous foreign exchange to the country and is responsible for more than 25% of country’s exports. It employs directly and indirectly crores of country’s youth population. In the IT campus present in SIPCOT, Siruseri, Chennai, around 50,000 employees work in the day and 5,000 in the night. Without realizing day and night, IT workers work for extended hours due to workload which leads them to stress. Many times they skip their meals and are also deprived of adequate sleep. Due to this they fall prey to depression and fatal disorders such as Heart attacks at younger ages. When the IT companies have got exemption from labor laws which facilitates them to extract work out of employees 24*7, why haven’t they set up appropriate medical facilities round the clock to safeguard employees’ lives? Why isn’t the Labour department taking notice of this? Moses would have been there with us by now had he been treated the first time he suffered from fits. Is this the responsibility the companies have towards their employees numbering in lakhs who give up even their lives, health, time with their families for the sake of these companies who operate solely on profit interests?
The postmortem report of Ilayaraja, Infosys Mahindra City employee who was recently found dead near the company’s rest room also confirmed that he was dead due to heart attack and fits. There has been no full fledged research done on the disorders arising out of workplace issues (occupational health hazards) nor there has been any holistic plan implemented to safeguard the health of IT sector employees on part of the government. Forum for IT Employees condemns the TCS administration for its irresponsible attitude towards the employees and failing to install necessary medical equipments and aid centres needed especially in times of emergency situations.
We place the following demands,
To the Government of Tamil Nadu,
Take strong action against TCS company for failing to provide necessary emergency first aid treatment thereby failing to protect the life of Moses Ranjan Raj who suffered from Heart attack and fits at workplace.
To the TCS Administration,
Given the fact that Moses had lost his life while at the time of discharging his duties, provide adequate compensation to his family keeping in mind the future of his wife and children.
To the Commissioner of Labour,
Conduct inquiry on the death of Moses Ranjan Raj who died due to inadequate first aid amenities at workplace.
Make the companies accountable to all the incidents bothering the safety of the employees at workplace.
Ensure that the companies strictly implement labor laws including 8 hours of work per day.
To the IT companies,
Make it mandatory to have 24*7 free medical aid centres in all your workplaces.
Parimala
President,
Forum for IT Employees (F.I.T.E)
TamilNadu
9840713315
10 Comments
Shabana November 30, 2017 at 10:51 am
I believe it is definitely lack of first aid and working at extended hours. It is truly a great loss. Mr. Moses was a very sincere manager and a very good human being. May his soul rest in peace!
fite November 30, 2017 at 4:05 pm
We have to come together in mandating 8 hours work day
shema November 30, 2017 at 12:06 pm
I totally agree with this post. Human life is much more valuable than the cost of each project the company may be involved in! Government should ensure that all the IT companies as well all other companies involving man power for 24×7 provide proper 24×7 medical care for their employees. TCS must compensate the family of Mr.Moses with the compensation equivalent to double the amount of his life time earnings if he had stayed alive , plus children’s educational and family’s medical expenses.
Jawahar S November 30, 2017 at 6:45 pm
1.Business ethics in MNcs is a much talked about least available commodity- be it the dealing with clients or employees. Net revenue is their only focus.
2.Caste, regional and linguistic attachments skew the work load and the reward. leading to stress and mental fatigue to many and a few eat the fruit , like in the race between V inayagar and Murugan
3.Governments can do nothing so long as they are run by IAS. I f professionals take over every spectrum the country will move forward. But the IAS wont allow. On the contrary in the last decade they have taken over specialized fields like nuclear energy- NSA taking the call and Space -PMO running. Recently they have started ruining ,sorry running Railways- one of the largest labour intensive organizations in the world
Then what is the remedy? Don’t think big. Don’t expect anything from outside. They are all good for Photo-op Every module in a vertical shall identify one or to two for such humanitarian service who will organize and mobilize resources in such eventuality.
As a retired man I can only pray God that such incidents do not occur again,
Surely Living God will provide the bereaved family strength, comfort and guidance in the long road ahead.
Udhayakumar November 30, 2017 at 9:55 pm
It is really sad to hear that Mr.Moses is no more with us and he could have survived if he was noticed on the first occurrence of fits with proper first aid. Organization should ensure that atleast 1 duty doctor 24*7 available, there shouldn’t be single employee allowed to work in a ODC, like assessing the work performance every 6 months health status of the employees also need to be monitored and assessed. Hope the organization would provide adequate compensation to Mr.Moses family. May his soul Rest In Peace.
Kayal December 1, 2017 at 12:36 am
This act clearly show that they consider there employees as mere thing.. whats there in making money, give some priority to human life..
Sasken December 1, 2017 at 8:17 am
First of all, may his soul rest in place. V sorry to hear.
One request to all, dont work too hard but end of the day health is more important, family is important, especially your kids life is more important they dont need money alone moral support is also v important. Dont be workaholic & top management shd give more importance to emp health.If ppl above complains of health prob it must be considered as a valid reason. Deadline shd not be end of the life. But dont send 40+ out. Proper work life balance shd b there
Jayakumar Pandiyan December 1, 2017 at 11:21 am
HR department should be removed from TCS and physical education department needs to be established, goals needs to be set in the appraisal cycle for health related activities, HR department is eating the money and is waste in TCS
Venisha December 1, 2017 at 9:56 pm
I know Moses personally. He is my relative. I am so heart broken for the fact he has left behind his young wife and 2children in which 1 child is not even 5 years old. I live in abroad and just met this family early Nov 2017 night to catch up with our family before we left India. I was surprised how he was so busy with his laptop & phone calls during his personal time. I would say forget about Indian culture, even in abroad they don’t encourage this work culture so these big companies who work for abroad clients don’t have appropriate work culture in which the basic is, anyone should be working only for 8 hrs. a day. Occasionally working overtime is acceptable and it happens everywhere but job cannot become the family. These type of work culture is putting their children at risk of growing them without proper attention, love & care from their parents. The next generation is nurtured just around money & stress. Also what is work from home? That itself is not work – life balance. Why people should take work stress to home? And if a company is giving just 8 hour job a day that itself is a bonus nowadays for IT people. Work from home can be a bonus for a man or woman whose child is on leave and no one to take care and she/ he gets an allowance of doing both on that day which is a benefit for both employees & employers (this is just for an example). Companies have become so selfish nowadays they don’t care about employees’ physical, psychological and social health. What is the role of HR, social workers, OH&S officers? This looks like these positions are filled just to do the management’s demands and not for the welfare of the employees, which is a shame. I am surprised how come there is no dispensary in the office – company doctors and nurses regularly on duty or on call. BIG SHAME ON YOU TCS AND OTHER BIG BLOOD SUCKING IT COMPANIES.
TCS Employee’s Death at workplace; Labour Department conducts inquiry at TCS Siruseri campus – F.I.T.E. December 5, 2017 at 7:41 pm
[…] us that she had already ordered for an inquiry witnessing the news spread in the media based on our press release. Labor Inspector of Kanchipuram District had inspected TCS Siruseri campus yesterday (5/12/2017) […]