US workers sue Tata, claim citizenship bias

One of India's largest outsourcing technology companies faces a federal class action in Oakland, alleging the company discriminated against U.S. citizens by favoring Indian and other South Asian workers hired through the H-1B visa program.

Represented by lead attorney Daniel A. Kotchen, a partner with Kotchen & Low LLP, is a class of roughly 1,000 former employees of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., who allege the company engaged in a pattern of discrimination against non-South Asians and non-Indians in hiring, promotions and terminations across the United States.

The jury trial, which began Nov. 5 in Oakland before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, is brought by American workers who said Tata restricted their responsibilities and fired them in violation of U.S. employment laws. Buchanan et al., v. Tata Consultancy Services, Ltd., 15-CV1696 (N.D. Cal., filed April 14, 2015).

Tata called the allegations baseless in a press statement provided Monday by a company spokesperson who wrote the company is confident it will successfully defend itself.

"Our customers expect TCS to provide world class talent for their technology needs," wrote a Tata spokesperson. "Our success is based on our ability to provide the best talent available, both in the US and globally, based purely on the individual's specialized experience, skills and fit for each client's specific needs. TCS also strictly adheres to all federal and state equal employment opportunity laws and regulations."

The complaint alleges at least 70 percent of Tata's U.S. workforce is comprised of visa holders -- mostly from India -- and of the 30 percent of the company's U.S. workforce who are non-visa-dependent, roughly half are South Asian.

"While roughly 1 to 2 percent of the United States population is South Asian, approximately 95 percent of Tata's United States-based workforce is South Asian, primarily from India," the complaint alleged. It added that the company achieves such a disproportionate U.S. workforce by "an explicit corporate directive to staff U.S. positions with 'visa ready associates.'"

Commenting on the case, Maria Ontiveros, professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law and co-director of the labor and employment law program, said the litigation illuminates a trend among technology companies who use the H-1B visa program to exploit not only foreign workers but American workers as well.

"It can be abusive towards employees hired as visa workers and then exploited, as well as those who don't get the jobs because the company is hiring lower-paid, more easily controlled visa workers," Ontiveros said.

"Companies like Tata, like Infosys, like HCL, prefer to hire visa workers because they can pay them less, they can have a stronger amount of control over them in terms of having them be very compliant about assignments and lower wages and worst conditions," she added.

Tata Consultancy Services rejected that characterization in an emailed statement saying its work environment "allows TCS consultants to provide the best possible service to our clients...." The statement said, "TCS has one of the lowest attrition rates of all its competitors, is digitally training the majority of its U.S. workforce and has been recognized for the fourth consecutive year as one of the top three employers in America. Suggesting otherwise or placing TCS into a general category ignores the reality at TCS and is not factually accurate."

Ontiveros said even when workers from the U.S. are hired at companies like Tata, they are less likely to be placed into positions for long periods of time and then are subsequently terminated. In addition, American workers have alleged they face harassment while on the job and are threatened with retaliation if they file complaints.

For example, according to the class action, named plaintiff Christopher Slaight started working with Tata in June 2012 as a software engineer. However, after a year of being assigned very little work, often being passed over by visa workers, Slaight said he was ultimately terminated. The complaint contains a multitude of similar stories.

Ontiveros said the statistics and anecdotal stories of discrimination provided by the plaintiffs make their case compelling.

"The plaintiffs have a very strong case because the numbers are so stark," Ontiveros said. "In addition, they have anecdotal stories of how people are treated and quotes about preferences for South Asians that will bolster those statistics. Traditionally, statistics plus stories make a winning case."

The trial continues Tuesday.