New York state says Infosys will pay a $1-million fine for violating visa rules
The tech major denied any wrongdoing and said the settlement was related to matters resolved in a 2013 agreement.
The New York Attorney General on Friday announced a $1-million settlement with Infosys Corporation for not paying hundreds of workers adequately and failing to pay the corresponding taxes to the state. In a statement issued by Eric T Schneiderman’s office, the tech major was accused of “systematically abusing the United States visa rules in placing foreign workers at client sites in New York State”.
The firm, however, has denied committing any illegalities and said the agreement was a conclusion of a New York state investigation into the taxes paid in 2010-2011, Mint reported. It did not include any criminal or civil charges being filed, a spokesperson for Infosys said. The 2013 settlement “was reached by both parties to avoid protracted litigation,” Mint quoted the Infosys spokesperson as saying.
The corporation, headed by Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka, was accused of “knowingly and unlawfully obtaining temporary visitor visas [B-1 visas] instead” of the mandatory H1-B visas required for foreign workers. “We will not permit companies to violate our laws in order to undercut New York workers,” Schneiderman said.
The statement by New York said Infosys provided instructions to employees on B-1 visas regarding “how to deceive US consular officials and/or Customs and Border Protection Officers”. “This conduct included creation of a ‘Dos and Dont’s’ memorandum that was provided to Infosys employees entering the United States that explicitly instructed such employees to avoid talking about the work they were doing.”
On June 22, Sikka had said Indian IT companies were not facing challenges in the United States. In an interview to PTI, he had defended the Donald Trump administration, saying it offered “tremendous business opportunities and was an entrepreneurial government”.
On May 1, the firm had announced its plans to expand local hiring in the US by employing 10,000 American workers over the next two years. The news came soon after President Donald Trump had signed an executive order in April to introduce changes to the H-1B visa policy.
