Software firm Tata Consultancy Services said on Thursday that its employee hiring and retention policies do not depend upon an individual’s background or nationality, but are based only on “capability”, PTI reported. The software major’s statement came a day after a nine-member jury in the United States ruled that Tata Consultancy Services did not discriminate against American employees in favour of hiring South Asians.

A federal jury in Oakland, California, ruled in favour of Tata Consultancy Services in a plea filed by four former employees, who claimed they had been sidelined and fired by the company because they were not South Asians, BloombergQuint reported.

According to the complaint, the company has fired 12.6% of its non-South Asian workers in the US since 2011, compared to less than 1% of South Asian employees. The plaintiffs alleged that TCS engaged in a “systematic pattern and practice of discrimination” by favouring Indian expats and visa-ready workers from India for positions in the United States. This has resulted in a workforce that is almost 80% South Asian, according to the complaint.

On Thursday, TCS advocate Ben Trounson said the company had always maintained that the claims of discrimination were “baseless”. “The decisions we make about the hiring and retention of employees are based purely on their abilities and fit to serve our clients’ specific needs,” he added.

The advocate said that TCS is a “global company” for which American workers are very important. “Skilled American workers are critical to the success of the US business and to the nation’s economic success, and we will continue to invest heavily in the country’s workforce,” he added.