India’s largest information technology (IT) outsourcing firm has got embroiled in yet another legal battle in the US over its hiring policies.
This time, three US citizens have sued Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) in a New Jersey District Court alleging discrimination against American workers.
The complaint has come at a time when the Trump administration is putting pressure on offshore companies to hire more local US talent through its executive order “Buy American and Hire Americans”.
In their complaint filed in August this year, Darryl Stacy, Donald Stephen Bradley and Hesham Hafez have alleged that the firm prefers to bring employees on H1-B visas despite the availability of qualified US citizens.
The trio- working for two different companies, has further alleged that the IT giant prefers to hire Indians or South Asians when filling US positions.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial along with exemplary and punitive damages from the company.
This is not the first lawsuit against TCS.
The company had earlier got entangled in a similar legal trial in 2015, when employees at Southern California Edison had accused it of “overwhelming favoritism” towards workers of South Asian descent in the US. The case is currently in pre-trial motions.
Responding to the allegations, a TCS spokesperson said the company “believes that the allegations by the plaintiffs are baseless, and is confident that it will successfully defend itself”.
While in 2016, another US citizen had sued TCS for alleged bias on the basis of race, gender and country of origin. This case was later dismissed in 2017.
Many other Indian IT companies, including HCL Technologies, Wipro and Infosys. are also facing similar lawsuits over their hiring practices.
