Bias charge: More join suit against Infosys in U.S.

The three new plaintiffs claim that the company’s Indian-dominated workforce is a result of ‘intentional discrimination’

October 18, 2013 10:48 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 11:12 pm IST - CHENNAI:

A hiring lawsuit that software services exporter Infosys is grappling with in the U.S. has been amended to add three other workers who too have alleged discrimination.

This comes even as the IT major is gearing up to reach a civil resolution with the U.S Government over allegations that it had misused H-1B visas. The original hiring lawsuit was filed in August by a Wisconsin IT professional, who alleged that she was not hired for a position because of her nationality.

The recent amendments to the lawsuit, which brings on three more workers, may allow the lawsuit to acquire class-action status. Class action lawsuits generally aggregate a large number of individualised claims into one representational lawsuit. Though the initial lawsuit was filed as a class action, it has not yet been certified by the court as one.

In the amended lawsuit, the three IT and sales people claim that Infosys’ Indian-dominated workforce is a result of “intentional employment discrimination”.

In the filed lawsuit, the plaintiffs use their own experiences to make the case. Layla Bolten, who is a new party to the lawsuit, for example, was employed by Infosys to work on a federal district healthcare contract. The amended lawsuit alleges that though Bolten sought promotions on multiple occasions, the company instead promoted South Asian workers and brought additional Indian workers to perform work for the testing project in spite of the fact “that these workers had no experience as software testers.” Gregory Handloser, another party to the lawsuit, alleges that not only did Infosys set unrealistic sales goals for him but that in 2011, the company “began a concerted effort in the U.S to purge non-South Asian employees in favour of South Asians.”

Infosys representatives could not be contacted for comment.

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