Bengaluru: The former head of immigration of Infosys Ltd in the US has filed a lawsuit against India’s second largest software services company, alleging employee discrimination and retaliation by senior management, and sought damages from the Bengaluru-based company.
Erin Green, who joined Infosys in 2011 and was head of immigration in US before being asked to leave the company last year, filed a lawsuit on 19 June before a US district court in the Eastern District of Texas, seeking for a trial by a jury.
Green’s complaint against Infosys questioning discrimination against non-Asian employees at the company is an embarrassment for the management led by chief executive Vishal Sikka, who is trying to hard-sell Infosys in the US as part of the firm’s intent to hire 10,000 Americans in the coming two years. Nor does a complaint by the former head of immigration alleging racial discrimination help the cause of Infosys which, like many other Indian outsourcing firms, is dealing with US President Donald Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” policy.
As part of his complaint, Green also questioned the manner in which Infosys decided to fire him, and raised serious charges against two of Infosys’s senior executives, Vasudeva Nayak, then head of global immigration and Binod Hampapur, executive vice-president and global head of talent and technology operations of Infosys.
Green reported into Nayak, before Nayak left Infosys last year.
“Plaintiff (Green) was terminated because of defendant’s (Infosys) obsessional preference for employees of South Asian race and national origin, usually Indian, and as retaliation for reporting Nayak and Hampapur’s discriminatory treatment of himself and others on the basis of race and national origin,” reads a statement from the 53-page complaint filed by Green’s counsel Kilgore & Kilgore, PLLC.
Mint has reviewed a copy of the complaint.
An Infosys spokesperson did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Under Sikka, Infosys has seen a flood of senior management exits, even as the company struggles to get back on the growth track. For the current year, Infosys expects to grow between 6.1% and 8.1% (6.5% and 8.5% in constant currency terms), far short of the impressive 9.1% dollar revenue growth reported in 2015-16.
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