Infosys whistle-blower case trial postponed

The much-awaited trial of the whistle-blower lawsuit filed against Infosys Ltd in the US has been postponed by four weeks as the trial judge has sought some more time to resolve the ‘summary-judgment motion’, which was filed by the Bangalore-based company earlier.

In his order issued on Wednesday, US district court judge Myron Thompson postponed the case to September 17, saying he needed more time to resolve the pending summary-judgment motion after Infosys and the whistle-blower Jack Palmer failed to reach an agreement during the mediation. The judge also said he needed time to resolve some other civil cases which might take a few weeks.

In his lawsuit, Palmer, one of the employees of Infosys in the US, had alleged the company retaliated against him after he reported misuse of the B-1 business visa programme. Before the lawsuit goes for trial, Infosys had filed a motion for a summary judgment in April this year, saying there was no need for a trial when the facts were clear.

In the legal parlance, a summary-judgment motion can be moved by one party before the case goes for a full trial. Such judgments are issued based on the merits of the case.

“While Infosys is eager to air the facts surrounding this case in court, we respect and appreciate judge Thompson’s thorough review of our motion for summary judgment. Infosys filed the motion because we think the facts of this case are very clear and there is no need for a trial,” Infosys said in a statement issued on Thursday.

“Our position now remains as it has from the beginning: We can state unequivocally that there is absolutely no evidence of any sort of retaliation against or directed at Jay (Jack) Palmer,” it added.

Meanwhile, Palmer’s attorney Kenneth Mendelsohn told Computerworld magazine he didn't read much into the order, other than it was just continued.

A second similar whistle-blower case was filed against Infosys last week by one of its former employees Satya Dev Tripuraneni who alleged he was harassed and forced to quit after reporting B-1 visa by the company. The company subsequently said an internal investigation into his allegations found there was no evidence of retaliation against Tripuraneni.