The Kerala Women’s Commission (KWC) has decided to look into the problems faced by women bank employees in the State.
Difficulties faced by women bank employees can be e-mailed to the commission. Complaints received within six months would be looked into and recommendations sent to the government for further action, said a statement from the commission here on Sunday.
It was acting on a All India Bank Officers’ Federation complaint of alleged harassment of women employees by a bank management.
The complaints to the commission can be emailed to keralawomenscommission @yahoo.co.in
The commission took a case against the management of a bank on a complaint that a woman official was insulted over the phone and a notice was issued to stop her salary in violation of laws.
The commission said the bank management’s action forcing employees, including women, to work despite fixing the banking hours till 2 p.m. in view of the COVID-19 pandemic was anti-employee and anti-women.
The commission would visit the bank and collect evidence, commission chairperson M.C. Josephine said. Recent instances such as the death of a bank assistant manager and legal action by a former law officer of the same bank against her termination lent credence to the perception that the banking sector was not employee friendly.
Women who constituted the majority of bank employees were unable to voice the problems they faced at the workplace and suffered mentally on that account. However, they could approach the commission without any hesitation, the commission said.
