Jury rules Silicon Valley staffing firm Cognizant discriminated against non-Indian employees

A recent jury ruling has found that Cognizant, a staffing company that supplies thousands of workers to Silicon Valley and Bay Area tech firms, engaged in intentional discrimination against non-Indian employees. This decision follows claims from several employees who reported facing discrimination based on their nationality, as noted in a report by Mercury News.

Cognizant, founded in Chennai, India, and now headquartered in New Jersey, has become integral to tech companies in Silicon Valley, especially through the use of H-1B visas to attract skilled talent. These firms often rely on staffing agencies like Cognizant to fill lower-tier positions while simultaneously advocating for an increase in the annual cap on new visas beyond the current limit of 85,000.

In 2017, three plaintiffs—American citizens Vartan Piroumian from California, Christy Palmer from Arizona, and Edward Cox from Texas—initiated a lawsuit against Cognizant in a Los Angeles U.S. District Court. Later on, Jean-Claude Franchitti, a green card holder from France, joined the case as well.

The lawsuit alleges that Cognizant systematically marginalized non-Indian staffers, leaving them without work until they were ultimately laid off in accordance with company policy.

Following the verdict, Cognizant expressed its disappointment and announced intentions to appeal. Ron Hira, a Howard University professor who specializes in H-1B visa issues, pointed out that federal data show Cognizant sponsors hundreds of H-1B visas annually for Indian workers to operate in the Bay Area. In 2023, the company facilitated H-1B employment for workers at prominent employers such as Google, Meta, Apple, PG&E, Kaiser Permanente, and Walmart.

According to data from the Bay Area Council, nearly 60,000 foreign nationals with H-1B visas were authorized to work for companies in the region in 2019, with the majority coming from India. The lawsuit contends that Cognizant’s favoritism toward Indian workers led the company to seek maximum H-1B visas by submitting applications linked to “nonexistent jobs.” Hira also emphasized that regulations require companies to prove that there are actual job positions available for visa holders.

Franchitti, who obtained a Ph.D. in computer science, was employed by Cognizant in 2007 and held director and executive positions for nine years. He reported witnessing a clear bias toward visa-holding Indian employees and claimed he was let go in 2016 after voicing concerns about being coerced into signing hundreds of fraudulent invitation letters to back H-1B visa applications for jobs that were never real.

The lawsuit maintains that these fraudulent invitations were part of Cognizant’s strategy to amass a significant number of H-1B visas, creating a “strong inventory” of Indian nationals poised to fill positions in American companies. The jury has recommended the court consider punitive damages against Cognizant for its actions.