SiliconIndia | Friday, 10 August 2012, 13:22 IST |
Satya Dev Tripuraneni, a US citizen and former employee of Infosys in the U.S., has filed a lawsuit in a federal court of the Northern District of California on August 2nd claiming harassment following his complaint against visa-fraudin the company, NDTV said in a report.
Tripuraneni alleges that even though he informed about the misuse of B1 visas to the Infosys management, no action was taken; instead he was subjected to harassment. He was an account manager with the US branch of Infosys and has worked for the firm for five years.
According to the lawsuit, Infosys also cheated its clients by billing them fraudulently for employees brought from India and they also took extra money from the clients for taxes.
This recent case of visa fraud came as big blow to Infosys, India's second largest software services provide, as it is the second lawsuit the company is facing over visa-fraud.
Infosys confirmed the lawsuit and said, "Shortly after Tripuraneni filed his complaint with the Infosys whistleblower team, per our policy, the company launched a comprehensive investigation of his allegations," the statement said.
"That investigation is continuing. As for comments on the legal matter, we are choosing to concentrate our attention and resources on the investigation. We feel this is the prudent and responsible course of action at this time," it said.
The case comes just a few days before the Jack Palmer case is set to go on trial. Last year,Palmer a software project manager at Infosys has complained about harassment and discrimination from his superiors and co-workers ever since he complained about visa fraud at the company.
Palmer accused that Infosys’s brought Indian employees to U.S on B-1 visas which are short term and less costly, instead of H-1B visas.
Palmer had to face serious problems at his workplace following the complaint; he was not given any work assignments, was denied bonuses and moreover was subjected to death threats as well.
"They did the worst thing they could do to someone who is used to working 80 hours a week," Palmer said. "They sit me at home and cut me off from everything. My life is floating in Infosys purgatory." He filed a lawsuit last year asking federal prosecutors to open a criminal investigation.
The trial of the case is scheduled to begin on 20th of this month in a U.S. court, after a negotiation process between the two parties failed.
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