Air India forms panel to select employees for leave without pay

The government-owned Air India on Thursday formed a 4-member committee to identify redundant or surplus employees to be sent on compulsory leave without pay (LWP) for a period from six months up to five years. “

Air India has constituted a committee for identification of redundant/surplus manpower resources”’. The Committee will submit its report to the regional director’s office by 11 August for review, according to a letter accessed by The Daily Guardian.

Earlier, the board has approved the scheme for sending employees on leave without pay for a time period ranging from six months to two years that can be extended up to five years. The decision has given authority to Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal to send employees on leave without pay.

 The 4-member committee will include General Manager (Personnel) Convener, General Manager (Finance), Member, Departmental Head, Member One representative of Regional Director (RD) to be co-opted, in case required on case merit.

The four senior-level officers will decide and further submit a report regarding the identification of redundant or surplus manpower resources to the AI regional director (RD) office and later Airline headquarter will take the final decision.

According to the letter, the General Manager (Personnel) will share the staff list with all departments and convene the discussions/ deliberations including the process of identification of surplus/redundant resources. The report is to be submitted to the Regional Director’s office by 11 August 2020 for review and onward recommendations to headquarters.

“Air India has around 10,000-12,000 employees and due to COVID-19 pandemic, it has become very difficult to manage finances, with hardly any help from the government and thus this is the best possible option we could think of, “a highly placed source in Air India told The Daily Guardian.