The Karnataka labour department will look into the matter of layoffs by B2B commerce start up Udaan, which has reportedly let go of hundreds of contract workers.

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Udaan, which had only recently raised $585 million in funding, has let go off hundreds of contractual staff, in roles from customer support to sales.

Reports peg the number of employees affected anywhere between 1000 to 3000.

Many of the affected workers also approached the police in Bellandur in Bengaluru on Monday about the termination notices.

The DCP of Whitefield has said that the police has asked the workers to approach the labour department and that they have also informed the department on the same.

Several of the affected staff also took to social media sites such as Twitter to highlight the steps by the company, and the state labour dept has responded to several of the tweets stating that their officers are looking into the matter.

Udaan, in a statement said, it has compensated affected associates with a month’s salary and is working to place them in other companies that are hiring.

“In this unprecedented breakout of coronavirus, we are adapting to the structural changes in demand in India which is impacting our current infrastructure. Driven by economies of doing business in a sustainable manner, we are compelled to restructure our teams which has unfortunately made some roles redundant," the company said.

”Each associate who has been impacted is provided with additional compensation of one month and will be part of priority hiring list where they would be given preference to join us when a relevant opportunity exists within the system.

We are also giving a recommendation letter and support wherever possible to find new employment opportunities through our partners.

Additionally, associates who are covered under group medical insurance scheme will continue to get medical insurance benefit for an additional period of 3 months," the company said.

One of the contractors Udaan worked with was staffing firm Teamlease, which said in a statement that there will be no firings during the lockdown .

“As an organization we have always upheld the statutory interest of each of our deployed associate employees as per provision of the law and continue to do so during the lockdown.

In the specific instance we have followed all necessary provisions of the law and adhered to the advisories of labour officials ensuring there is no cessation of employment during the lockdown and all statutory dues have been/are being paid and statutory deduction have been remitted to their social security accounts to ensure they can make use of the benefits.

We are also extending the option of online skill upgradation as well as redeployment options to candidate in distress based on the available openings during the Covid lockdown scenario,” Teamlease said.

Udaan was last valued at nearly $3 billion after raising $585 million in October from investors such as Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, Citi Ventures, DST Global, Lightspeed etc.

First Published:Apr 27, 2020 3:11 PM IST