BANGALORE: Experienced software engineers sacked via the "involuntary attrition" route are finding themselves in a logjam. Forget landing jobs in other companies, they are finding it difficult to get past even job consultants as they carry the tag "under performer".

Sample this: When Vivek (name changed on request) approached a recruitment consultant with his resume he was literally mocked at for being a sacked employee. Lamenting that the phrase under-performer has now come to be associated with his resume, Vivek says: "Not only were we sacked but our credentials have also been damaged. It is such a face-loss."

In fact, it was the predicament like that of Vivek that prevented many sacked Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employees to come out in the open on Saturday and participate in the protest organized by IT/ITeS Employees Centre (ITEC — an employee welfare forum) in front of Town Hall here. Barring one sacked techie, there was nobody from TCS in the motley mix of protestors. Even those who protested camouflaged their identity by wearing masks of TCS CEO N Chandrasekaran.

When asked why techies chose not to come in large numbers at the Town Hall, an ITEC member said: "Maybe there are all too scared to come out in the open as they have to find jobs. The corporate sector is very sensitive of people who could question them or protest in public." When Bangalore Mirror spoke to the lone sacked TCS techie who identified himself as Manoj Kumar, ?he said: "I got to know about the protest through Forum for IT Employees (FITE). I feel really bad about TCS because what they are doing is totally unethical as they are forcing employees to resign without giving justifiable answers."

Kumar, who had risen to the post of assistant consultant, said he joined TCS thinking that there is "job security" in the company and that their employees are treated well. Kumar was with TCS for 12 years and what baffles him is that he was removed when he was working on a project and not while on the bench.

"It is not only me; there are many colleagues with experience of 12 to 15 years who have suddenly been labelled under performers. It is very bad to tag us that way. Why did the company tolerate us for so many years if they thought we were not performing? Other companies that offer us jobs will take advantage of our situation and offer us peanuts."

Vivek, who worked with the company for more than three years said, "I heard that people who went for interviews in companies in Kochi and Hyderabad were asked to leave even without being interviewed. The only reason being that they were from TCS, and branded under performers."

Vivek added, "In my case too, the HR personnel told me to either sign the resignation letter or be given a termination order. At that time I thought a termination letter will ruin my career and signed the letter. But the timing is such that everyone coming out of TCS now is getting branded a non-performer. I have no idea what I am going to do further. Why will any company want an under performer? "

ITEC is planning to move court with the TCS layoff issue and also take up the matter with the state government. An ITEC office bearer said, "We have asked those who lost their job to come forward and take the legal course. We are telling them not to get scared of the future."