A UK employment tribunal has heard claims that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) unfairly targeted older, non-Indian nationals during a redundancy programme in 2023.
According to The Guardian, three former employees allege that TCS, a Mumbai-based IT outsourcing firm, discriminated against them on grounds of age and nationality as part of a restructuring process.
TCS has denied all allegations.
Steve Beer, the lead claimant, said he was made redundant in an “unfair and discriminatory manner.” Hired in 2019, Beer said the company “deliberately orchestrated” the redundancy process to remove employees from the consulting services and integration (CS&I) division who were older and mostly non-Indian, while retaining younger, Indian nationals.
Beer told the tribunal that a “tickbox” consultation process was used to justify predetermined outcomes.
He also claimed TCS employed a “bait-and-switch” tactic by including local staff in sales proposals to win contracts, only to replace them later with Indian staff.
He said this was due to perceptions that non-Indian staff were “more costly and less culturally ‘malleable and compliant’.”
Beer said the removal of more experienced staff was driven by concerns about profit margins, bonuses, and billing metrics. He referred to an August 2023 email from an HR director stating that those not working on “billable” projects were at risk.
Two other claimants are also expected to give evidence. The Guardian reported that the case follows similar claims made in the US involving at least 22 workers.
