Claims that Indian outsourcer Infosys routinely brought foreign
tech workers into the United States on fraudulently obtained H-1B
visas must be heard at trial, a federal circuit judge in Alabama
has ruled. Infosys, which has denied the allegations, had been
seeking an out-of-court settlement through arbitration.
The case arose last year, when Jack "Jay" Palmer, who was an
Infosys consultant, sued the company, claiming that Infosys
officials in management meetings expressed the need to "creatively"
get around H-1B restrictions, which require companies to pay
foreign workers a wage that's in line with average U.S. salaries
for a particular job.
The H-1B program is also capped at 65,000 workers per year, not
including set asides for foreign nationals who graduate from U.S.
universities.
"During one of the meetings, Infosys management discussed the need
to, and ways to, 'creatively' get around the H-1B limitations and
process and to work the system in order to increase profits and the
value of Infosys' stock," Palmer charged in papers filed in the
Alabama court.
"Infosys was sending lower level and unskilled foreigners to the
United States to work in full-time positions at Infosys' customer
sites in direct violations of immigration laws," Palmer alleged.
"Infosys was paying these employees in India for full-time work in
the United States without withholding federal or state income
taxes. [Palmer] also learned that Infosys overbilled its customers
for the labor costs of these employees," he claimed.
Infosys has said that it's reevaluating its visa program, but
denies it's guilty of systematically abusing H-1B visas.
"We take very seriously our obligations under the law and
specifically our responsibilities to comply with the immigration
laws and visa requirements in all the jurisdictions where we have
clients. We have made changes in our policies regarding immigration
and visa requirements and we will continue to improve such policies
as necessary to maintain the absolute best practices for
compliance," a company spokesman said at the time of the suit's
filing.
The allegations against Infosys have caught the eye of U.S.
authorities. In an SEC filing, Infosys confirmed that earlier this
year it received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. District Court
in Eastern Texas, seeking "documents and records related to the
company's sponsorships for, and uses of, [H-1B] business
visas."
Infosys has previously said it "intends to comply with the
subpoena and to cooperate with the grand jury's investigation."
Source:
InformationWeek USA