About 62 former employees of Byju’s have come together and sent a notice of filing an insolvency and bankruptcy case against the troubled edtech firm at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Bengaluru, if their pending dues are not paid.
“Canvas Legal, a Bengaluru-based law firm, has issued a demand notice of more than Rs 2.30 crore on behalf of 62 employees to Byju’s,” said Rajat Singh, former mathematics faculty at Byju’s Tuition Centre, Delhi, and who is representing the ex-employees.
The notice demands the immediate payment of salaries that have been owed to the employees since last year.
“The undersigned request you to unconditionally repay the unpaid operational debt (in default) in full within 10 days from the receipt of this letter, failing which we shall initiate corporate insolvency resolution process in respect of M/s Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (Byju’s parent),” said the letter sent to the company on July 4, 2024, a copy of which Business Standard has seen.
Over 1,500 disgruntled former employees of Byju’s have joined hands to fight for their rights. Several among them are in the process of taking their former employer to the NCLT in Bengaluru for the payment of their dues.
One such former employee said that his father passed away last year due to cancer, and he had to take a loan to pay a huge hospital bill.
Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad recently held a meeting with representatives of Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, the parent company of Byju’s. During the meeting, Lad urged the company to address the unpaid dues owed to former employees. Byju’s employee count currently stands at around 13,000, down from nearly 15,000 at the end of 2023. The total salary burn for the company ranges between Rs 40 and 50 crore, according to sources.
Lad revealed that approximately 160 to 200 employees had approached the Labour Department, with total outstanding dues amounting to around Rs 4.5 crore. The Labour Department has also received many emails from former Byju’s employees complaining about not receiving their full and final settlements months after their termination.
Byju’s has assured the Labour Department that the company will settle all dues within a month of receiving a relief order from the NCLT, according to the sources.
Byju’s is facing multiple challenges, including a cash crunch, delays in financial reporting, and legal disputes with lenders and investors. At least seven vendors have also sued Byju’s at NCLT to recover their dues.
Byju’s on Wednesday appeared before the NCLT and requested 48 hours to determine whether it should undertake not to pledge, sell, or transfer its assets amidst a dispute with investors. Earlier this year, US-based lenders to Byju’s approached the NCLT Bench in Bengaluru to start corporate insolvency proceedings against the edtech company. The ad hoc group of lenders (the Ad Hoc Group), which lent $1.2 billion as term loans (Term Loans) to Byju’s, said GLAS Trust Company LLC (as administrative agent and collateral agent of the Term Loans) had filed a petition against Think & Learn (doing business as Byju’s) before the Bench.
In a separate development, NCLT at Bengaluru on July 3 reserved insolvency pleas filed by telemarketing company Surfer and mobile phone maker Oppo against Byju’s for judgment.
US-based publishing company McGraw Hill Education and end-to-end customer experience solutions company Cogent E-services have also filed similar pleas.
First Published: Jul 05 2024 | 6:43 PM IST
