Sachiin Joshi’s Rs 3 crore programme to distribute food packets to frontline Coronavirus warriors receives flak from former employees alleging non-payment of dues

By Vandana Srivastawa

on May 07, 2020

Coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown saw several Bollywood and TV celebs joining hands and donating to various NGOs and Government ventures to help people in this time of crisis. Actor-businessman Sachiin Joshi also announced a Rs 3 crore programme to distribute food packets to the frontline workers. However, his good turn of heart surprised his former employees of Viiking Ventures who have claimed they have still not got their dues even after several months of tendering their resignation.

A leading daily reported Taskeen Naik, the former social media head and public relations officer to the chairman who had joined the company in August 2018 said that she has been waiting for her full and final payment since her exit from the company in May 2019. She told the daily, “When I personally reached out to Mr Joshi, he blocked my number. Despite following up (with the HR team) every month, I am yet to be paid.”

The daily reported that around 30 employees of Viiking Ventures and its communications wing Think Tank are still to get their full salaries. Their salaries have been withheld since March 2019 and the cumulative amount stands at a little over Rs 30 lakh. Another former employee Krishna Choudhary, former marketing manager at the company revealed that since his joining in October 2018, the salaries were often delayed. Griping about the same, he told the daily, “On March 26, 2019, Mr Joshi sent an e-mail assuring that the salaries will be timely from April. That month, they cleared all our salaries up to February 2019. But I was not paid a dime after that. I tendered my resignation in June, and have since been pursuing the HR to clear my four months' salary. While my pleas fell on deaf ears, the department sent an e-mail last December citing lack of funds as the reason for delayed payments. How does the company have money for charity, but not to pay our pending salaries?"
However, on the other hand Sachiin’s spokesperson issued a statement about the accusations of his former employees. The statement read, “We hired a particular CEO (now no longer with us) who undertook unlawful practices and fraud, with a bunch of employees. All those people working with the said CEO are now under scrutiny and their payments are being held. The procedure should be completed by end of June 2020. Those who are given a clean chit will get their rightful dues, and the management will take legal action against those found guilty."

However, the former employees maintained that they were not informed of being a part of any investigation and another employee who had joined in May 2019 that was long after the CEO’s departure said that his dues are still pending even though he had no connections with the fraudulent CEO whatsoever. The employee said, “Of my eight-month stint, I have not been paid for three-and-a-half months. I was not allowed inside the office premises when I went to meet Mr Joshi. When he recently went live on Instagram, many (former employees) asked him to clear their dues, in the comments section. I'm contemplating legal action."

The actor’s company says that these employees are trying to extort money before the investigations ends by going to the media with sob stories which won’t get them anywhere.

(Source: Mid-Day)