BharatPe responds to allegations:
BharatPe strongly denies any social media comments which suggest that the company has not paid salaries to its employees. All the employees of the company have been paid their March salary in full. As per the company policy, employees serving their notice period will receive their full and final settlement amount in the due course as per company policy."
BharatPe has been the centre of controversies ever since Ashneer Grover's alleged involvement in extensive misappropriation of company funds and grossly abusing company money to fund their lavish lifestyles came to light. Now, the company has found itself in another predicament, which could snowball into another major controversy if left ignored.
At least three former employees have publicly levelled allegations against the BharatPe leadership of non-payment of salaries and dues. The former employees are believed to be a part of BharatPe since the early days and have now gone public with their concerns after the company allegedly paid no heed to their requests.
Karan Sarki, whose bio says he worked as a senior IT specialist at BharatPe, shared a post on LinkedIn, alleging that his salary for the month of March hadn't been cleared despite multiple requests. Sarki also alleged that many employees were terminated without reason and their salaries hadn't been paid.
"Dear Suhail and Shashvat Sir, we haven't received our salary for March month yet despite following so many times on email and visiting the office. All the old admin staff of BharatPe has been terminated by you without giving any reason and their salaries have not been paid. We were with BharatPe ever since the company started and now we are nowhere because of your internal politics. We are poor people and have our houses to run, small kids to take care of. We have been spending our own money for company's petty cash and our reimbursement bills have not been paid since December. All the staff of BharatPe is enjoying office paid trip to Goa and we engraved employees are fighting for their salaries and job. What kind of leaders you are," Sarki wrote on LinkedIn.
Ashneer Grover commented on the post, saying "Folks please look into this. Not done - their salaries have to be paid first before anything." Grover was stripped of all company titles last month.
Ashneer's sister Aashima Grover also commented on the post shared by Sarki. She wrote: "That's the sad part... That's it's a shameless bunch!"
To this, BharatPe's CEO Suhail Sameer posted a snide remark on why the company hasn't been able to pay the salaries of the employees. He wrote: "Aashima behen - tere bhai ne saara Paisa Chura liya (Aashmia sister - your brother stole all the money). Very little left to pay salaries (sic)."
International Business Times has emailed BharatPe, seeking a response on the allegations of non-payment of salaries and Suhail Sameer's response. The article will be duly updated.
This comment by the CEO of a nearly 3-billion-dollar company has left netizens in shock.
"I can't believe a "CEO" of your stature answering with such a brazenness," said Binod Acharya, a business manager. "I feel like you're trying to score some personal points here trying to be sarcastic or ironic."
Many called our Sameer for his unprofessional remark and criticised the lack of empathy towards the employee's concern. Screenshots of Sameer's comment on LinkedIn also went viral on Twitter, with users reacting sharply.
Another employee's grievance
Seeing Sarki's post, other employees have also shared their grievances.
"Sir I'm the oldest employee of BharatPe working day and night and I have to follow up on my salary and reimbursement. Why were we thrown out of the company without any reason? My mother is suffering from Lung Disease and is hospitalized. Please give our dues and ESOPs back (sic)," Dhananjay Kumar, Associate admin at BharatPe, commented on LinkedIn.
To this, Sameer responded with assurance that the team is working on settling the dispute. In any case, the payment is not done by Friday, Sameer asked Dhananjay to call him personally.
"Dhananjay - don't worry. Team is on it. If you don't get it by Friday, please call me directly. You have my no." Sameer commented.
But the employee didn't seem assured as he had been in this predicament since December.
"Sir following up since December for my reimbursement amount of two months that I spent from my savings, my salary also not come and Yudhisthir mailed me that reimbursement amount will not be given full. You know me and our honesty, we have done expenditures for the company. Why is company treating us like this? We have been thrown out without any reason and our ESOP's taken away (sic)," he replied.
Further down the comments, another employee briefly mentioned that his reimbursement had been pending since December. "Sir my salary has also not come, my reimbursement is also pending since December," Rampravesh Kumar, Administrative Associate at BharatPe, alleged.
