Infosys? visa ?misuse? woes in the United States may likely prolong with a US court declaring that the infamous Jack Palmer case would not go for arbitration.
Federal judge Myron Thompson ruled on Wednesday that former Infosys employee Jack Palmer?s lawsuit ? alleging visa abuse by the company ? will remain in the courts. Palmer, who has been working with Infosys since 2008, had filed a complaint with the Alabama State Court in February that Infosys has been using the cheaper B-1 visa programme to send lower-level and unskilled employees to the US for long-term work instead of H-1B, the appropriate visa for such work. H1-B visas are more expensive and difficult to get, compared to B-1 visas, which are issued to business visits.
Palmer?s lawyer Kenneth J Mendelsohn said in an e-mail to FE, ?Palmer?s lawsuit against Infosys will remain in the courts and not go to arbitration as requested by Infosys.?
When contacted V Balakrishnan, Infosys CFO, told FE, ?We have to go through the legal process. As the case is subjudice we cannot comment right now.?
Palmer had alleged that while being employed as an Infosys consultant, he uncovered evidence of fraud in the procurement of H-1B visas for speciality workers. He believed that Infosys improperly asked employees to write ?welcome letters? for unskilled workers. Palmer asserts that, upon reporting this information to his supervisors and Infosys? ?whistle blower team?, he was subjected to various forms of harassment.
However, after the lawsuit, the IT company is understood to have put in place certain internal measures around its usage of the B-1 visa like employees of managerial positions and above are allowed to travel on this visa and no employee travelling on this visa category can stay beyond 45 days in the US. B-1 visa is a business visitor visa issued by the US government.
For Infosys, US is the largest market, with North America contributing about 65% to overall revenue. But for the country, which has been struggling with an unemployment rate of 9% and a sluggish economy, outsourcing is a major concern. The US government of late has takes various protectionist measures like visa-fee hike and Ohio ban to discourage shifting of jobs.
Last year, Ohio state banned the outsourcing of government IT projects to offshore locations like India. The move came shortly after the US enacted Border Security Law by almost doubling the application fee to about $4,300 from $2,300 for H-1B and L1 visas, used highly by the Indian IT professionals. The anti-outsourcing sentiment has also led to stringent visa regulations in the past few years.