Dive Brief:
- The Walt Disney Company and two consulting companies, HCL and Cognizant, have been named in two separate class action lawsuits based on alleged violation of the H-1B program regulations.
- In the cases of two plaintiffs, both ex-Disney workers, the issue is whether or not they lost their jobs because they were replaced by H-1B workers (and not rehired by Disney for other jobs within the company). The claim is that the defendants intended to replace the higher-paid Americans with H-1B workers from the get-go.
- The lawsuits are the first ever in federal court directed at outsourcing companies that imported immigrants and the U.S. employer who contracted with those outsourcers.
Dive Insight:
The H-1B issue first came to light back in November with a Times article about how larger employers were "gaming the system," basically making it impossible for smaller companies to take advantage of the program.
As part of that story, it was noted that some workers actually had to train their H-1B counterparts in how to do the former's job and then the job was eventually outsourced to the company back in the H-1B worker's native country.
The latest Times' article noted that the DOL already has ongoing investigations of the outsourcing companies (who are the actual employers of the H-1B workers) at Disney and Southern California Edison, which laid off hundreds of Americans two years ago. In addition, at least 30 former American Disney workers filed complaints with the EEOC, claiming they are the victims of discrimination.
