Scopus Consulting Group and Orian Engineers owned by Indian Americans found defaulting.
By Sreekanth A Nair
The US Department of Labor has fined two Indian American companies after they were found to have violated H-1B Visa provisions.
Federal Administrative Law Judge Stephen R Henley ordered the two companies to pay $103,000 in fines to the federal government and to pay 21 workers $84,000 in back wages.
The department found that the two worker placement organizations in Sunnyvale – Scopus Consulting Group and Orian Engineers, both owned by Kishore Kumar – violated the H-1B provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act by misrepresenting the prevailing wage level on the labor condition applications required by the act.
The companies were also found to be underpaying its employees, most of whom had master degree qualifications.
The department informed that “both the firms have been debarred from H-1B program participation for one year. The division also cited the companies for failing to post a notice in the workplace about their applications to bring in foreign workers using the H-1B visa program, which would allow U.S. workers to learn about and apply for job openings.”
The companies bring workers from India and other countries to employ as software engineers for renowned Silicon Valley firms, such as eBay, Apple, and Cisco Systems.
Susana Blanco, director for the Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco, said, “Some of the country’s most cutting-edge, successful organizations benefit from underpaid H-1B workers.”
“H-1B workers must be paid local prevailing wages. We will not allow companies to undercut local wages and hurt the US workers and businesses who pay their workers fairly,” Blanco added.
The H-1B provisions are to help employers to hire non-immigrant workers who come with an in-depth knowledge and at least a bachelor degree in a required field.