‘Avoid Hiring Indian-Origin Candidates’: Infosys Faces Discrimination Suit In The US

India’s tech behemoth Infosys is currently embroiled in a legal tussle in the USA. Reportedly, the Bengaluru-based company has been accused of discrimination in its hiring process based on age, gender and nationality.

A US court rejected the motion brought by Infosys to quash the complaint of former employee Jill Prejean who claimed that the company asked her to avoid hiring candidates of Indian origin, women with children and those above 50 years old. 

Prejan was a former Vice President of Talent Acquisition with Infosys and she made the claims before the United States District Court for the southern district of New York. In her complaint, she pointed to former senior VP and head of consulting Mark Livingston, and former partners Dan Albright and Jerry Kurtz as the ones who created a hostile work environment and enforced discriminatory hiring policies.

“Prejan tried to change this culture within the first two months of her employment but was met with resistance from Infosys partners – Jerry Kurtz and Dan Albright – who became hostile in the face of her objections and tried to circumvent her authority to evade compliance with the law,” read the complaint according to media reports. 

She had filed the lawsuit against Infosys last year in September and the court rejecting the company’s plea comes as a minuscule victory for her. The court has reportedly directed Infosys to file an answer within three weeks, after the judgement came out on September 30. 

Notably, this is not the first time Infosys has found itself in a quandary over such discriminatory charges by employees. In 2021, four employees filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and argued that the Bengaluru-based company favoured Indian male workers. 

Credits: WION