US firm fined for underpaying Indians

‘One of the fundamental lessons of this case is that prosperity in the U.S. of America and the well-being of workers do not come determined by the colour of your skin’

Photo for representative purpose.

A Silicon Valley firm has discovered the hard way that U.S. authorities would not take kindly to its attempt to “grossly underpay” eight IT workers it brought over from Bangalore. The firm was slapped with a $3,500 fine and an order to hand out back pay to the tune of $40,000 for knowingly paying them the rupee-equivalent in California, which was significantly below the mandatory minimum wage for the State.

According to the U.S. Department of Labour, which led an investigation of pay practices at the firm following an anonymous tip, the Fremont-based Electronics for Imaging paid the workers $1.21 an hour while they worked 122 hours a week without overtime pay.

In an e-mail comment sent to 

The Hindu ,

  Susana Blanco, District Director for the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco, said, “One of the fundamental lessons of this case is that prosperity in the U.S. of America and the well-being of workers do not come determined by the colour of your skin, much less due to your national origin or ethnic background.”

She said that such prosperity came through hard work, “which is precisely what these workers did… Our fairness to workers is not limited to ones with rights versus others with no rights.”

Ms. Blanco said that it was unacceptable to have employees working round-the-clock, over 100 hours a week, for such substandard wages, adding that business owners should understand that when they brought employees to the U.S. to work, “They must pay them in accordance with U.S. labour laws [and] the Wage and Hour Division is committed to vigorous enforcement of all applicable laws and will not tolerate the exploitation of any worker.”

In late 2013, DOL investigators learned that the technicians were flown in from the firm’s office in Bangalore to assist with the installation of the company network and server.

However, they were denied the statutory minimum wage of $7.25 for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 a week, according to a DOL statement, and may have kept inaccurate time and payroll records.