H-1B visa scrutiny: TCS, Cognizant among 10 firms in US crosshairs

In email to CEOs, US panel questions their firms' H-1B visa hiring practices, seeks reply by October 10

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Cognizant have received emails from the United States Senate Committee on Judiciary questioning them on their hiring and layoffs practices in the US. This comes as US President Donald Trump has increased the scrutiny on H1-B visa with an intention of revamping the visa programme.

 

According to reports the email has been sent to 10 tech firms including Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, TCS, Cognizant, Google, Deloitte and others. The mail was sent by Senator Charles Grassely, chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee and Senator Richard J Durbin.

 

While Business Standard has seen the email sent to TCS and Cognizant, it could not be independently ascertained if the emails were sent to other firms.

   

Addressed to the company’s chief executive officer, the mail questions these firms on their H1-B visa hiring practices, and has asked them to respond by October 10.

 

In the email to K Krithivasan, MD & CEO of TCS, the committee has said, “In evaluating the high employment rate of American tech workers, we cannot ignore the massive, ongoing layoffs ordered by you and your peers in the C-suite over the past few years. TCS recently announced plans to lay off over 12,000 employees worldwide, including American staff.”

 

“For example, TCS has laid off nearly five dozen employees in its Jacksonville office alone last month,” said the email. The email further says that TCS has been laying off American employees, even as they have been filing H1-B visas petition for thousands of foreign workers.

 

“With all of the home grown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that TCS cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions,” said the email.

 

It further points out that TCS is already under investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly firing older American workers in favour of newly hired South Asian H1-N employees.

 

“TCS is doing itself no favours by replacing Americans with H1-Bs while this investigation is ongoing,” it said.

 

In a similar email to Cognizant’s CEO Ravi Kumar, the Senators said, “Last year, a federal jury conducted that Cognizant intentionally engaged in race-based discrimination by favouring South Asian H1-B workers over American employees. The jury also found that Cognizant’s conduct warranted punitive damages…”

 

The emails sent to firms began with the concern that there have been troubling employment trends in the tech industry.

 

“Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the tech sector’s unemployment rate was ‘well above’ the overall jobless rate. The Federal Reserve also found that the recent American graduates with STEM majors now face higher unemployment rates than the general population,” states the email.

 

The emails also ask nine questions to these companies on their H1-B hiring practices.

 

Emails sent to both TCS and Cognizant did not elicit any response by the press time.

 

These emails add to the concern for the industry as well as the company after the $100,000 fee imposed for new H1-B visas filed along with business in slow lane due to global uncertainty and tariffs.