US court rejects Infosys plea for dismissal of discrimination suit

A district court in the US has rejected a plea by Infosys, India’s second-largest information technology services company, to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit filed by a few IT workers there.

In their lawsuit filed in 2013, four IT workers, who claimed themselves as ‘Caucasians of American national origin’, had alleged they were discriminated against because they were not South Asian, Indian, Bangladeshi or Nepalese.

In her decision earlier this month, judge Pamela Pepper granted some relief to Infosys but did not rule against the claim of racial discrimination.

Pepper wrote ‘The plaintiffs’ class allegations are implausible and, thus, the court will not dismiss them before permitting any discovery.

Accordingly, the court denies the defendants’ motion to dismiss, with two exceptions.

The court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims under Section 1981 for the national origin discrimination, as the section does not support such a claim.

It also dismissed the claims made against Infosys Public Services by two of the plaintiffs -- Brenda Koehler and Kelly Parker -- since none of them were employed with IPS or applied for employment with it.

IPS is Infosys’ wholly-owned subsidiary in the US that deals with government contracts.

When approached for comments, an Infosys spokesperson said, “We do not comment on ongoing litigation.”

The ruling of the US district court is expected to take Infosys to another phase of a legal battle in the US, where a majority of its business interests lie.

Like most other offshore-centric IT companies, Infosys derives about 60 per cent of its revenues by servicing clients in the US.

The Bengaluru-based company has been at the centre of an outcry over visa abuse allegations for some time.

In 2014, it had paid $34 million (Rs 204 crore) for civil settlement of a US visa misuse case.

Despite the hefty payment, the company was asked by the US authorities to retain an independent third-party auditor, at its expense, to review its visa compliance until 2015.

Earlier, a former employee, Jack Palmer, had filed a suit alleging he was targeted after he brought up the issue of misuse of short-term business visas before Infosys.

The petition was dismissed by a district court in August 2012.

In July last year, Palmer filed a fresh complaint, alleging that Infosys  and eight of its senior executives denied him work or promotions and later terminated his services.

Image: Infosys campus; Photograph: Reuters