Infosys has been fined €175,000 (roughly Rs 2 crore) by a French regional labour authority over shortcomings in how the company recorded employees' working hours, the IT major disclosed in a filing to Indian stock exchanges.

The penalty was imposed by DRIEETS Île-de-France, the regional authority overseeing employment and workplace compliance in that region. According to Infosys's filing, the regulator's concerns centred on the reliability, auditability and monitoring capabilities of its time-recording system for certain categories of employees.

French labour law requires employers to maintain accurate, auditable records of working hours to ensure compliance with the country's statutory 35-hour workweek, overtime provisions and mandatory rest periods. Infosys has not disclosed which employee categories were affected or whether it has been directed to overhaul the system.

Infosys's response

The company said the fine would have no material impact on its financial position, business operations or project deliveries. Infosys also explained why the disclosure to exchanges came after a delay, saying it needed additional time to internally verify the notice and determine the appropriate course of action before informing the markets.

The penalty lands at a moment when Indian IT firms with large European operations are facing closer scrutiny of workplace practices abroad. France's data protection authority, CNIL, fined Amazon France Logistique €32 million in January 2024 over what it called an "excessively intrusive" system for monitoring warehouse staff, a considerably larger case, but one that reflects a broader pattern of French regulators taking a firm line on employee monitoring and labour-record compliance.

For Infosys, the fine is financially minor, but it comes as the company navigates a leadership transition, with Ashiss Kumar Dash set to take over as CEO from Salil Parekh in 2027, and follows a quarter in which the company reported a 12.2% year-on-year rise in net profit.