BUSINESS ETHICS CASE PRESENTATION Sexual Harassment at Infosys

Presented By: Prabin Daimary (65) Sherly John (76) Shreya Anand (79) Vishnu M.R (87)

Company Profile
Infosys Limited (formerly Infosys Technologies Limited) is an

Indian multinational. It is a provider of business consulting, technology, engineering, and outsourcing services. It is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. Infosys was co-founded in 1981 by N. R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, N. S. Raghavan, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh and Ashok Arora after they resigned from Patni Computer Systems. The founders started the company with an initial investment of INR 10,000 or US$ $250.

Awards and Recognitions

Infosys ranked among the most innovative companies in

a Forbes survey, leading technology companies in a report by The Boston Consulting Group and top ten green companies in Newsweek's Green Rankings. Infosys was voted India's most admired company in The Wall Street Journal Asia 200 every year since 2000. The corporate governance practices were recognized by The Asset Platinum award and the IR Global Rankings. Infosys was also ranked as the 15th most trusted brand in India by The Brand Trust Report.

Brief Description of the Case

The case is about a Sexual Harassment and Blackmail by a top manager

Phaneesh Murthy of Infosys to his Female subordinate, Reka Maximovitch in United States. The events took place during October 1999 and December 2000, when Former Secretary Reka Maximovitch alleged that Phaneesh had sexually harassed her and unlawfully terminated her. Phaneeshs reaction to these are that all the charges against him are false and he was not involved in all the matter. Phaneesh quit the Company in 2002. After quitting by Phaneesh, Infosys settled case out of the court where they give $3 million to Reka which she had accepted.

What is Sexual Harassment?

According to US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sexual harassmant is defined as, Direct sexual advances or propositions, including higher ranked employees asking for sexual favours; intimidating or excluding women employees to jeopardizes their employment status; creating a hostile workplace for women by using sexiest jokes, remarks or pinning up sexually explicit or pornographic photos or videos.

Delay in addressed of Sexual Harassment Case by INFOSYS

Companys board did not address the Reka Maximovitch case until June 2002 , while she had filed the sexual harassment and unlawful termination in December 2001. Some of the possible reasons may be :
Non disclosure of the case directly to the company by Reka. Failure of disclosure of relationship by Phaneesh to the

company management. No formal mechanism to deal with sexual harassment. To protect brand equity. Consumption of senior managements time. Huge amount of settlement. Disagreement for settlement by Phaneesh.

Settling issue out-of-court" by INFOSYS

In April 2003, Infosys closed the case with a $3-million

out-of-court composite settlement. That means that in return for the money, Rekha Maximovitch surrenders her right to sue either the company or Murthy.

Measures adopted by INFOSYS to overcome Harassment

Narayana Murthy the then Chairman of the Company said to the press that they have taken steps to strengthen out internal processes and balances to handle similar situations.

Measures adopted by INFOSYS:

Strengthened grievance redressed procedures. Initiated training programs.

Broadened dissemination of information.

Conducted course on sexual harassment and importance of gender

sensitization. Project Housekeeping- Launched internal project to deal with unethical demeanor.

HOW TO OVERCOME
Employers Role:
- CREATE SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY - COMMUNICATE THE POLICY - EXECUTE ACCORDING TO THE POLICY - MAKE A GREIVANCE CELL - TRAINING THE EMPLOYEES

 EMPLOYEES ROLE:
- DEALING WITH THE HARASSER
- COMMUNICATE THE PROBLEM - FORMAL AND OFFICIAL REPORTING - CREATE WITNESS - SET BOUNDARIES

THANK YOU!!!