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| US staff in a spot on health cover | |
| Priyanka Joshi / Mumbai January 13, 2009, 0:57 IST | |
The US employees of Satyam Computer Services are in a spot. The health insurance cover to onsite employees expired in December 2008 and it has not been renewed by the company.
"It's due to lack of funds is what we were told by our management, but we have been assured that funds will be mobilised soon," said a US-based employee over phone. The Hyderabad-based company, which earns almost 80 per cent of its revenues from the US, has not been able to pay its employees' health insurance premium that amounts to a minimum of $170-200 monthly for every staff. The amount varies according to employee category.
As per the US-based National Coalition on Healthcare data, the annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $12,700 while the annual premium for single coverage averaged over $4,700.
Employees told Business Standard that health cover is usually allotted on an annual basis for onsite employees or as per the length of their stay in the US. "Cash positions of the company have been precarious and we believe that's why the company hasn't paid the amount upfront to the insurance company," explained a US employee.
"Our family members are covered under this health insurance but since the company has run into financial trouble, we have been advised to avert falling ill and thereby save ourselves from any medical expenditures that are quite high in the US," said another employee. He added the communication from Satyam management has been to check details of medical expenses with the doctor before availing of any healthcare facilities.
This move has put several Satyam employees in a catch-22 situation as their corporate credit cards have been terminated by banks and Satyam is yet to disburse their salaries. Another US employee said: "My colleagues with families are a worried lot since there is no health cover, nor any ready cash with them. They would have to dip into their savings, if any emergency arises."
Satyam development and delivery centers in the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Hungary, Egypt, UAE, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia serve over 600 clients, including 185 Fortune 500 clients. Satyam had set up a small marketing office in Sao Paulo in 2007, which had the capacity to house 100 technology workers. This office handles US clients such as Caterpillar, General Motors, and Nestlé. Another Hyderabad-based employee who has colleagues in the US offices said, "Maternal healthcare facilities in the US can set you back by $40,000. How can employees afford these costs, when they aren't even paid their salaries?"
According to the US Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, which issues the temporary work visa, Satyam received approval for 1,396 H-1B visas in 2007.
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| AnxiousIndian |
January 13 , 2009 ,13:42 IST |
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| Mr. Narayana Murthy said his company will never touch tainted companies. Is he saying Infosys is an absolute clean company without any blemish? If I may remind Mr. Murthy and my readers about the sexual abuse case against Infosys and the hush, hush out of court settlement and the land grabbing controversies which some sections of politicians keep bringing up in Karnataka. |
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| advisor |
January 13 , 2009 ,13:40 IST |
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| please dont opt for any big loans right now. dont put your family in distress.let the situation stabilize. the bad has began and worst still to come. american economy is showing symptoms of breakdown and indian IT is basically all about american outsourcing. hope the situation make a turnaround in the quickest possible time. |
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