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Infosys faces class action suit over 'hiring bias'
Posted by : Unknown
Tuesday 6 August 2013
Infosys faces class action suit over 'hiring bias'
nfosys's visa troubles in the United States just got worse. An American citizen has accused the Indian IT company of discrimination against Americans in its hiring practices and has filed a class action complaint against the company.
Brenda
Koehler, in a complaint filed by her attorney on August 1 in the United
States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, claims her
job application with the company was rejected on flimsy grounds and
Infosys, instead, employed a Bangladeshi national for the position she
had applied for.
The lawsuit states that Infosys' hiring
policies and conduct are in violation of Title VII of the United
States's Civil Rights Act.
"Infosys has engaged in systematic,
company-wide discrimination against individuals based upon their
national origin. Specifically, Infosys has discriminated against
individuals who are not of South Asian descent," the lawsuit states.
"The company employs more than 15,000
individuals in the United States and approximately 90 per cent of
these employees are of South Asian descent, including individuals of
Indian, Nepalese, and Bangladeshi descent. Infosys has reached this
grossly disproportionate workforce by directly discriminating against
individuals who are not of South Asian origin."
The lawsuit
mentions that Koehler, an IT professional since 1996, applied for a
position of "Lead VMware/Windows Administrator" with Infosys in April
2012. However, after a 45-minute interview, an Infosys representative
stated that she had no experience in 'Active Directory'.
ALSO FROM THE AUTHOR: Indian IT firms need to guard against class action suits
"While
the job posting indicated that VMware would be the primary role for the
position, Infosys's representatives spent a considerable amount of time
asking about other subjects, including DNS and Active Directory.
Koehler has experience in those areas and explained to Infosys's
representative that she had considerable experience, including
explaining the particular types of work she had performed," the lawsuit states.