Infy settles visa-related employee suit

Infosys has settled a harassment lawsuit filed by Satya Dev Tripuraneni, a former employee, in the Federal Court in California on August 2.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Bangalore-headquartered IT services company said Tripuraneni had withdrawn his lawsuit following a “successful mediation of the dispute”.

The lawsuit was withdrawn without the need for admission of any liability, the company said.

“We can confirm that we reached an amicable settlement, without any admission of liability. This settlement enables us to avoid the costs and distraction associated with protracted litigation,” the statement said.

Infosys did not clarify whether it was a court-appointed mediation or an ‘out of the court’ settlement.

In the lawsuit, Tripuraneni had alleged that he was harassed and was forced to quit by Infosys after he blew whistle alleging violation of the business visa programme.

VISA PRACTISES REPRIEVE

Allegations: In February 2011, Jack ‘Jay’ Palmer, an American employee of Infosys filed a suit in a court in Alabama alleging the company of misusing B-1 business visa programme 

Outcome: In August 2012, a US district court judge dismissed the case 

Allegations: In that month, Satya Dev Tripuraneni, an ex-employee, filed a suit in the Federal Court of California, alleging he had been harassed and forced to quit following his whistle-blowing that alleged violation of the business visa programme 

Outcome: In December 2012, he withdrew the suit following mediation

More pain? The Federal authorities in the US are conducting a criminal investigation into Infosys’ visa practices  

He had also alleged that after he filed the whistle-blower complaint, “an anonymous individual made a telephone call” to his home and “threatened” his family.

Following this, Infosys had conducted a “comprehensive investigation” into his allegations, and dismissed those charges as “baseless”. “We can unequivocally state that there is absolutely no evidence of any sort of retaliation against or directed at Tripuraneni,” the company had said in a statement.

The withdrawal of the lawsuit is expected to give a major relief to the company, which has been in the eye of controversy for alleged visa norms violation in the US.

Earlier, a similar lawsuit filed by one of its employees, Jack Palmer, was dismissed by the US district court. While dismissing the case in its entirety, US district court Judge Myron H. Thomson had noted that there was “no basis to support any of the charges filed by Palmer”.

However, Infosys is not completely out of the visa row. A criminal investigation by the US Federal authorities on the company’s visa practices is still underway. Infosys had earlier said that it was cooperating with the Federal authorities in the investigation process.