Cognizant Discriminated Against Non-Indian Workers In H-1B Visa Case, US Jury Finds

A US jury has found that employment practices at Cognizant constitute discriminatory conduct toward non-Indian workers in a case that originated in 2013 and claimed the tech giant favored H-1B visa holders from India over local workers.

Last week's verdict [PDF] says the IT service giant should pay punitive damages. It followed Cognizant's failed attempt to have a federal judge dismiss a 2017 class action lawsuit alleging bias on the grounds of race and nationality after a previous trial ended without the jury reaching a verdict.

The US-based tech outsourcing and consultancy firm denies the claims. A spokesperson for Cognizant told The Register it was disappointed with the latest verdict and plans to vigorously defend itself on appeal.

"We provide equal employment opportunities for all employees and have built a diverse and inclusive workplace that promotes a culture of belonging in which all employees feel valued, are engaged and have the opportunity to develop and succeed. Cognizant does not tolerate discrimination and takes such claims seriously," they said.

The spokesperson pointed out that the Christy Palmer v. Cognizant complaint [PDF] was filed in 2017 and addresses claims dating back to 2013.

Those bringing the case alleged that Cognizant engaged in employment practices or patterns that favored South Asian employees based on nationality and race to the detriment of other workers. They allege these practices are against US civil rights law.

In the 2017 complaint, the plaintiffs said only about 12 percent of the US IT industry is South Asian, while at least 75 percent of Cognizant's US workforce is South Asian, primarily from India.

Cognizant hires people then allocates them to client work. When those client jobs come to an end, they can be placed on the "bench" to wait to be allocated to another client project.

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The allegations state that Cognizant maximized the number of H-1B visas it applied for in the lottery by allegedly claiming it needed to fill jobs that effectively did not exist.

"Cognizant's explicit preference to staff visa holders in US positions minimizes or eliminates competition for the jobs from non-South Asians residing in the US. Similarly, 'visa ready' individuals often are used to replace non-South Asians working for Cognizant in US positions. Non-South Asians are then disproportionately relegated to the bench, as jobs are given to visa-holding Indians," the complaint said.

A Bloomberg report claimed Cognizant had the highest number of H-1B visas of any US employer from 2013 to 2019, according to Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The allegation also maintains that Cognizant's firing policy also favors South Asians as it allegedly terminates employees who are on the "bench" for more than five weeks, and "non-South Asians are benched at disproportionate rates compared to South Asians," or so the complaint claims. ®