White ex-employee at Infosys in Plano files suit, claims company favored workers from India
White ex-employee at Infosys in Plano files suit, claims
company favored workers from India
Written by Karen Robinson-Jacobs June 21, 2017
Infosys, the India-based information technology
consulting firm with an office in Plano, is facing yet another reverse
discrimination lawsuit asserting that it creates a hostile work environment for
workers who are not from India or South Asia.
Erin Green, a former supervisor at Infosys, filed suit
this week in the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman, alleging that he and
black and white staffers on his team were denied raises and promotions, and
that other "non-South Asian" workers were berated by South Asian
company officials.
Green, of Frisco, is white and rose to the rank of
"head of global immigration" while working in the company's Plano
office. He was terminated in June of 2016, ostensibly for violating Infosys'
"code of conduct by using his work computer for personal use a number of
years earlier."
The race-based discrimination lawsuit by a former
American employee comes just weeks after Infosys -- India's second-largest technology
services company -- announced plans to hire 10,000 American workers at a time
when President Donald Trump has been pushing an "America First"
policy.
An Infosys spokeswoman said the company is "not in a
position to comment on ongoing litigation."
Green's attorney said he did not have time to answer
questions.
In filing suit, Green joined a list of Infosys job
applicants and employees who have filed suit in courts in several U.S.
jurisdictions arguing reverse discrimination.
"Infosys maintains roughly 200,000 employees working
in the United States," Green's suit said. While less than 5 percent of the
U. S. population is of the South Asian race and national origin, roughly 93
percent to 94 percent of Infosys's United States workforce "is of the
South Asian national origin, (primarily Indian)."
"This disproportionately South Asian and Indian
workforce, by race and national origin, is a result of Infosys's intentional
employment discrimination against individuals who are not South Asian,
including discrimination in the hiring, promotion, compensation and termination
of individuals," the suit said.
"Infosys has gone to great lengths to obtain its
primarily South Asian workforce in the U. S., in particular by utilizing
professional H-1B and L-1 work visas to bring South Asians (primarily Indians)
into the United States to work in information technology ("IT")
consulting roles," according to the suit.
Data from a previous suit, referenced in Green's suit,
"illustrates the overwhelming dis-proportionate percentage of non-Asians
being involuntarily terminated and not given promotions," the suit said.
Green's 22-page suit outlines the career path of an
employee who rose rapidly while working for a white supervisor, and whose
career tanked after he was assigned to a supervisor who was of "the South
Asian race and Indian national origin."
After the suit, Green "was subjected to
discriminatory measures of increasing severity designed to undermine both his
position and his professional credibility within" the company.
The new supervisor "promptly began stripping [Green]
of his immigration 'operations' responsibilities and transitioning or
maintaining these roles with less experienced, lower level South Asian
employees in India," the suit said.
A suit seeking class-action status, making similar
allegations, was filed in Wisconsin. A job discrimination suit was filed in
2014 in the Pennsylvania Eastern District Court.
The company announced a $34 million settlement to end a
federal investigation into allegations that it circumvented immigration laws to
bring thousands of lower-paid workers into the United States.
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