A former Cognizant employee won $8.4 million in a lawsuit against Cognizant alleging hiring bias such that the company only gave preference to Indians and fired Americans.
A former employee of Cognizant Technology Solutions has gone to court accusing the company of biased hiring practices after he was fired from his job in 2016 after working for the company for a decade. Jean-Claude Franchitti said his dismissal came after the IT chief questioned the cheap labor model, as he observed that the company was preferring cheap labor from India. In 2016, he had a $350,000-a-year role, and he was fired. A federal jury in Manhattan sided with Franchitti and awarded us $8.4 million – a balance of $4.2 million for lost wages and an additional $4.2 million in punitive damages. Franchitti now teaches at NYU.Franchitti said he had signed several letters that were fraudulently used by Cognizant to help secure US visas for Indians. The letters certified that the employees would report directly to him at Cognizant’s New Jersey location, but he soon realized that the jobs listed in those letters did not exist and the employees would not be working under his supervision. He also alleged that Cognizant used to apply for L-1 and B-1 visas because H-1B was more expensive. And those who were in trouble with H-1B did not get the expected wages.He alleged that non-Indians were promoted less often and faced hostility by Indian employees.As he verbally questioned these practices, he claimed that he was removed without any prior notice or without being placed on the bench. Cognizant denied the allegations. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis reacted to the verdict and said he was pleased that Cognizant was held accountable. DeSantis said, “The lengths to which some of these companies go to discriminate against Americans in favor of cheap foreign labor is truly disturbing. Glad to see some accountability. But the easiest thing to do is eliminate the visas that provide the pathway to discrimination in the first place.”