INDIA — It was reported in Indian news media last week (14 Dec) that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is currently facing a class action lawsuit over discriminatory hiring practices in the United States.
The lawsuit was filed by a former American employee, Shawn Katz, alleging that TCS has been practising discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. It was filed at the US District Court in New Jersey.
Katz alleged that the software firm has engaged in a pattern or practice of discriminating against individuals who are not South Asian or Indian by favouring them in hiring and employment decisions.
In the filing, it accused TCS of “knowingly and intentionally creating and maintaining an overwhelmingly disproportionate workforce in the United States that consists of approximately 70% South Asian employees (primarily from India).”
According to the lawsuit, while only about 12 per cent to 13 per cent of the IT industry in the US is staffed by South Asians, TCS has 70 per cent with the bulk from India working in US on work visas.
“Throughout the class liability period, TCS has used discriminatory policies and practices related to hiring, staffing, promotion, and termination described herein that have resulted in a disparate impact on non-South Asians and non-Indians who, as a result, are disproportionately not hired, not selected for positions, not promoted, benched, and/or terminated. These practices are neither job-related for the positions at issue nor consistent with business necessity,” the lawsuit stated.
It also further alleged that TCS’ talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract and favour Indian candidates. It said that TCS offers better career growth opportunities to candidates on visas over non-Indian candidates.
“… this grossly disproportionate workforce is the result of TCS’s intentional pattern or practice of employment discrimination against individuals who are not of South Asian race or Indian national origin and its utilization of employment practices that have a disparate impact on these same groups,” said the lawsuit.
Other Indian IT firms such as Infosys, HCLTech and Wipro have also been facing similar lawsuits in the US on various counts of discriminatory employment practices.
