Palmer had lost an earlier lawsuit against Infosys.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: A former US employee of India’s second-largest software and outsourcing company, Infosys, who sued the company three years ago for alleged unfair visa practices, and lost in an Alabama state court, has filed a fresh lawsuit, this time in a district court in New Jersey.
Jack Palmer’s earlier lawsuit had accused Infosys of harassing him because he raised concerns about possible visa violations at the company, was thrown out in 2012, reported The Wall Street Journal. However, his lawsuit had triggered a U.S. investigation of Infosys.
Palmer’s fresh lawsuit is seeking reappointment and compensation for allegedly wrongfully terminating him. He filed a fresh complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor in May, which was not responded to, according to him. A copy of the lawsuit filed in New Jersey was seen by the Journal.
Infosys has been in the cross-hairs of legal tussles in the US for alleged biased and fraudulent visa practices. Last year, it agreed to pay $34 million in a civil settlement with the U.S. government, which charged it with visa fraud and errors in its hiring records.
A federal investigation into the company’s visa practices said that Infosys used deceptive practices to bring Indian workers to the U.S. on short-term, B-1 business visitor visas rather than the more expensive and difficult to acquire H-1B skilled worker visas to save time and money.
Infosys denied all charges, though it acknowledged errors in filing federal employment-verification records.
The U.S. government’s investigation was triggered by the original harassment case filed by Palmer in a court in Alabama in 2011. In that case, Palmer, who was still working for Infosys, said he was getting harassed at the company because he had refused to bend the visa rules. The state court threw out Palmer’s case and asked him to pay costs to the company.
Infosys fired Palmer last year. In his latest lawsuit, he is seeking to force the company to rehire him and compensate him for the losses he had incurred in the past and may incur in the future, as well as for other costs, said the Journal.
The lawsuit doesn’t mention the amount of money he is seeking.