HCL Technologies has been accused of underpaying their H1B Visa employees in the US to the tune of at least $95 million per annum, according to the US-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
The Noida-based IT Company got 1,405 new visas and 2,801 visa renewals last year and was ranked eighth in total H-1B approvals. According to the whistle-blower report by EPI, HCL makes a profit by placing temporary H-1B visa workers at numerous top companies.
While the US places strict conditions on the issuance of H-1B visas for foreign employees, there have been numerous cases of corporations violating the rules laid by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding the non-immigrant work visa. One of the requirements of the H-1B visa is that employers must pay H-1B workers no less than the wages paid to their similarly employed U.S. workers.
Here’s the list of three other companies that have been accused of the same in the past.
Cloudgen LLC:
In June this year, Cloudgen LLC, an Indian consulting and strategic solutions company pleaded guilty to conspiring visa fraud between 2013 and 2020 through its corporate representative Jomon Chakkalakkal. Cloudgen LLC admitted to falsely recruiting workers from India. The company had made a profit of $493, 516.28 by deducting a percentage from the workers’ salaries as their fees, according to the US Department of Justice.Cloudwick Technologies:
In a similar case to HCL in 2018, Cloudwick Technologies, a company owned by an Indian American based out of California, was asked to pay $173,044 to 12 of its foreign employees for paying them less than the designated amount for their position. The investigations carried out by the US Department of Labour found out that the company was paying an amount of just $800 per month as against the promised amount of $8,300 to its employees. Coundwick’s client’s included companies like Bank of America, Home Depot, Intuit, JP Morgan, Target, Visa, and Walmart.
Value Consulting:
In August last year, an Indian national Ashish Sawhney, the director of Value Consulting, was arrested on charges of fraudulently obtaining H-1B visas. According to The Economic Times, Sawhney had indulged in a $21 million fraud from 2011 to 2016, which involved using four firms to submit fraudulent applications for H-1B visas for job positions that did not exist.
