Entertainment giant Walt Disney, along with Burbank, Calif has cancelled layoffs of about 35 technology employees, who were to be replaced with Indians holding H1-B visas, according to a report in The New York Times.

In May, about 35 employees at Disney had been told that they would all be laid off, and during their final weeks they would have to train immigrants brought in by an outsourcing company to do their jobs.

How after few days of training, their suspension was cancelled and the training called-off.

According to a media report, no explanation was given to the employees.

“We were read a precisely worded statement,” said one of the employees, who was relieved but reluctant to be named because he remains at the company. “We were told our jobs were continuing and we should consider it as if nothing had happened until further notice.”
This comes as a relief for the techies who were anxious of losing their jobs to H1-B visa holders.

Last month, the layoff had come amid the continued debate over immigration reform in the US as the temporary work visas are at the centre of a fierce debate in Congress over whether they complement American workers or displace them.

Around 250 Disney employees were told in late October last year that they would be laid off and many of their jobs were transferred to immigrants on H1-B visas brought in by an outsourcing firm based in India.

The H1-B visa programme has also been criticised for being used to bring in immigrants to do the work of Americans for less money, with laid-off American workers having to train their replacements, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The layoff caused huge resentment among the Disney employees, who said they were required to train their replacements to do the jobs they had lost.

“I just couldn’t believe they could fly people in to sit at our desks and take over our jobs exactly,” the report quoted a former Disney worker as saying.

“It was so humiliating to train somebody else to take over your job. I still can’t grasp it,” said the American.

The report added that Disney executives said the layoffs were part of a reorganisation, and that the company opened more positions than it eliminated.