BENGALURU: Cognizant is facing a legal headwind after a US jury found the company guilty of discriminatory practices against non-Indian job applicants. According to SiliconValley.com’s report, the jury advised the court to impose punitive damages on Cognizant.
TOI had reported last week that Cognizant was facing a class action lawsuit, representing approximately 2,000 former employees, that proceeded to trial.The suit stated that Cognizant demonstrated a “pattern and practice of discriminating against workers who aren’t from India.”
During her tenure with Cognizant, former employee and plaintiff Christy Palmer, in a lawsuit, said she was repeatedly removed from her position servicing Cognizant clients and replaced with South Asian workers. The lawsuit said that Cognizant preferred to fill US positions with “visa ready” individuals for whom Cognizant secured a visa and who resided overseas, almost always (if not always) in India.
“As a matter of corporate practice, when new US positions became available, “visa ready” individuals were given first – if not exclusive – preference. Cognizant’s explicit preference to staff visa holders in US positions minimised or eliminated competition for the jobs from non-South Asians residing in the US. Similarly, “visa ready” individuals often were used to replace non-South Asians working for Cognizant in US positions. Non-South Asians were then disproportionately relegated to the bench, as jobs were given to visa-holding Indians,” the lawsuit said. Palmer versus Cognizant was initially filed in 2017 and addressed plaintiffs’ claims dating back to 2013. Cognizant employed around 40,000 employees in the US.
SiliconValley.com reported that the lawsuit claimed Cognizant ousted many non-Indian workers by first taking them off projects and “benching” them without work, then keeping them benched until firing them in accordance with a company policy.
When TOI reached out to Cognizant, its spokesperson said, “Cognizant is disappointed with the verdict and plans to vigorously defend itself and appeal at the appropriate time. Cognizant did not tolerate discrimination and took such claims seriously.”