Infosys: Second harassment suit is also baseless [Software & Services] [Times of India]

(Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) BANGALORE: Fresh from Infosys Technologies' victory in a harassment lawsuit filed by a US employee, the company's MD S D Shibulal said that a second harassment case filed by a former employee in the US was equally baseless.

The former employee, Satya Dev Tripuraneni , too had alleged that he was harassed for raising issues related to misuse of visas. He said he had to quit his job for that reason. Speaking to the media over a conference call, Shibulal said, "We conducted an internal investigation and the claims are unfounded. Our lawyers are currently preparing for the defence.'' Tripuraneni's lawsuit was filed in a federal court in California on August 2.

On Monday, an Alabama judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Jack Palmer, an Infosys employee, because he found no basis to support any of the charges filed by Palmer. Palmer had alleged harassment for raising visa misuse issues.

Shibulal said the company has a well-defined whistleblower policy. "Whenever charges are made, we investigate to verify them, but will not retaliate against employees," he said. Asked if Palmer would continue to be employed in the company, Shibulal said the judgment came through only on Monday and "we will look at all the things holistically and then take a call." Palmer's lawyer Kenneth J Mendelsohn had alleged that he was on the bench for 16 months and shut out of the Infosys system . Shibulal countered that saying, "The bench utlitization rate is currently at 70%. We will deploy people as and when new projects come up." On the federal investigation into the issue of visa misuse, Shibulal said the company had no further updates to share at this point. Palmer's allegations, combined with other similar charges, had persuaded the US government last year to launch a federal investigation into visa misuse.

This led to a grand jury subpoena that compels Infosys to provide information on its sponsorship of B1 visas. Infosys had last year said that it had received the subpoena and affirmed that it would cooperate with the investigation.

(c) 2012 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited

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