TCS to cough up $29.8 million to settle US lawsuit
The case against TCS was filed by two of its former employees — Gopi Vedachalam and Kangana Beri — who were sent from India to the US. In 2006, the two accused TCS of forcing all non-US workers to sign over their US tax refund cheques back to the company and also that TCS deducted Indian salaries from their compensation.
The terms of the settlement are described in a February 21 filing with US District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California. The California Federal Court in April last year had permitted the class-action suit, which alleged that TCS and its holding company Tata Sons breached employee contracts by wrongfully withholding wages and violating the labour laws of California between 2002 and 2005.
The employees claimed that the firm had promised to pay them their gross salary in dollar terms and a separate Indian salary during their stay in the country.
In an email response on the settlement, a TCS spokesperson said, “TCS believes that it always acted appropriately notwithstanding the allegations in this case. The company has admitted no wrongdoing and none has been found by the court. It agreed to settle this matter to eliminate any on-going distraction to its associates and management.”
The North
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