Palmer's lawsuit against Infosys gets teeth as allegations snowball

New York: A civil lawsuit brought seven months ago by whistle-blower John Palmer against Infosys spawned a criminal investigation by US authorities into the visa practices of the Indian software giant. As Infosys struggles to portray Palmer as a lone wolf who’s spreading “falsehoods” about the company, two other Infosys managers in the US have submitted damning internal whistle-blower reports of visa fraud.

Palmer’s attorney Kenneth J Mendelsohn told Firstpost that the latest allegation backs up his client’s case. Infosys is trying to head off a trial in the Palmer lawsuit by asking the case be referred for arbitration, butif a US jury winds up hearing and buying the argument that Infosys flouted immigration laws and then shut up a whistle-blower, it would be a huge shame not just for Infosys, but India’s technology industry.

“Mr Palmer is not alone. There are two more whistle-blowers supporting the violations that he reported. The federal government is also investigating Infosys,” Mendelsohn said on Thursday.

Infosys has relocated its head of human resources, Nandita Gurjar, to the firm’s office in the US to deal with the latest damaging allegation which has sprung from Infosys’ HR department in America. According to sources, Gurjar was expected to be in the firm’s Tennyson Parkway, Dallas office on Monday to weigh the fallout from a bombshell email written by an Infosys HR employee.

“The matter is with legal and we can’t comment on it right now,” an Infosys human resource executive in the Dallas office, told Firstpost.

The Indian tech giant has hired a battery of legal eagles, including criminal litigation attorney Stephen A Jonas of Wilmer Hale to build a defence. Jonas was equally tight-lipped about giving Infosys’ side of the story when contacted by Firstpost despite a third whistleblower kicking up dirt.

The new whistleblower who has chosen to remain anonymous, sent an email to Jeffrey Friedel, Infosys’ corporate counsel, and Lynne Grant, Infosys’ employee relations manager, asking Infosys to clean up its act; “I have an intense immigration background from a large US company employing approximately 3,000 foreign nationals throughout the US. This background is what allowed me to recognize the illegal immigration practices I have witnessed while at Infosys. I have been employed with this company for almost three years now and am appalled at the non-compliance and illegalities I continue to see.”

The HR executive, who left Infosys after sending the strong email, spelled out the areas of non-compliance, beginning with Form I-9, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services form that verifies an employee’s identity and establishes that the worker is eligible to accept employment in the US.

“When I started working for Infosys in April 2008 I was immediately aware that there were problems with I-9 compliance…When I continued to bring up the issue to my manager I was told “don’t worry, this is the responsibility of the Immigration department” (which takes direction out of India) and “what we don’t know won’t hurt us.”…If ICE were to come into the [Infosys> Plano [Texas> office and actually view the I-9 forms and also the electronic storage system, the fines for incorrectly completed forms and forms with incorrect documentation would be astronomical,” added the email.

All three whistle-blowers, including Palmer have said Infosys misused short-term B1 visitors’ visas to bring in low-cost engineers fromIndia. They have submitted internal whistle-blower reports pointing to Indians on business visitor visas who were working full time at client sites and Infosys was billing for their work. This is illegal as a B-1 visa is only valid for entry into the US for attending meetings and training.

Palmer who was hired in the US by Infosys in 2008 as a project manager alleged that his managers sought his help to circumvent US visa regulations and that company executives failed to act when he reported the illegal conduct.

“Mr Palmer was actually asked by Infosys managers to write a letter which was required by the US Consulate. The letter said the person was coming to a meeting but Mr Palmer refused to do it because he knew it was a lie. He knew this particular B1 was not coming here for a meeting but to work at a client site,” Palmer’s attorney Kenneth J Mendelsohn told Firstpost.

Palmer refused to write the letter, blew the whistle with the human resources department after which company managers chastised him on a conference call for “not being a team player.” He said he was ostracized, harassed no end and finally filed a lawsuit against Infosys in February this year although he is still employed at the company.

“Mr Palmer is still with Infosys but he is on the bench. He does draw a salary but he won’t be earning any bonus money because they won’t let him work on any job site right now,” said Mendelsohn.

The latest allegation has bolstered Palmer’s case even as Infosys has accused him of spreading “falsehoods” about the company in an effort to secure a lucrative financial settlement. Infosys chief marketing officer Paul Gottsegen, slammed Palmer’s testimony last week before a Senate subcommittee hearing on immigration reform.

He said Palmer’s testimony was “full of inaccuracies, exaggerations and falsehoods,” and that Palmer “is obviously intent on spreading his falsehoods about Infosys and our business practices as broadly as possible in order to advance his objective of getting as big of a payout as he can from the company.”

If Infosys was hoping to settle with Palmer out of court the odds aren’t looking too good for Infosys. Palmer has said that being called a liar has made him more determined than ever to see the case go to trial.

“Palmer is not going to consider any kind of settlement till he gets a public apology from Infosys. Then he may consider a settlement. He is not interested in settling right now. He is interested in proving everything he said was true. He has all the documentation to prove every violation that he has brought up,” Mendelsohn told Firstpost.

Watch video: Infosys visa woes recur, & this time it’s from HR dept