Posted by Sean:
Hi, I appreciate your efforts in maintaining a site to fight the cause of IT
professionals in america.
I noticed the following story in the media where Indian offshore company TCS
is sued by one of its employees because he was forced to give the tax
refunds to TCS.
Following are some links i found in Indian media. I have attached the Indian
media links because they contain around 100 reader comments, most of which
agree with the allegations in the law-suit.
Source: Rediff:
Vedachalam, who transferred to the Bay Area in 2000 from Bangalore, was assigned
by TCS to work as a project manager at Target, where he made $50,000 a year.
From 2000 to 2005, the refunds he signed over to TCS totaled $25,000, according
to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco's federal district court. ... In a statement,
Vedachalam said: "I work hard for Tata and the companies I have been assigned
to. I should receive the full wages Tata agreed to pay me, as should all other
Tata employees in America."
"I did not hand over my tax refund checks voluntarily. I tried to recover
these wages through Tata's internal procedures, but I was met with either
silence or refusal," he said. "
See the 40+ reader comments which seems to point to the fact that most
indian offshorers are engaged in similar practices.
Here is another indian media news report. There are 70+ comments there,
again pointing to similar criminal activities. I had attached one I found
rather interesting/disgusting.
Source: Indian
Express:
"I'm unable to digest, as internal communication saying it's baseless
allegation, though this had been the practice till July 2005. As TCS
Management is bunch of liers who lacks charisma even with their very own
employees. It's very strange that these people are given Padma Bhusan award
in India who have been practicing unethical policies for decades like
1. Taking Employee & their spouse's US refunds, at the same time claiming
Foreign Tax credit paid by employees in India
2. Executing Bond for overseas trips
3. No 'overtime' payments to employees though billing from clients
4. Cooking up CVs of Employee to secure projects. TCS RM's and BRMs are
experts in this.
5. Sending employees on 'B1' visas for pure technical work.
6.Misusing 'L1' in many different ways.
7.Locking Employees on PF and super Annuation funds.if they leave.
They were able to sail through for decades in these malpractices. They would
definetly find out some loopholes. Anyway happy to hear lot of current and
ex people are joining this suit. Best Wishes to Gopi and all TCS Employees!"
Even more appalling is the fact that the employee who was a "project
manager" was paid $50,000 in bay area. I am not sure why our mainstream
media is not picking up this story.
However, this doesn't seem to be deterring american corporations. Here is
news about Citigroup signing a deal with TCS (unfortunately I couldn't find
the same news in US media)
Source: DNAIndia:
"The deal is estimated to be between $125 million and $150 million on an
annualised basis, with a lion’s share going to TCS. On an average split
of 30% onsite work and 70% offshore and wages of $10,000 per month onsite and
$4,000 per month offshore, the deal is estimated to be around $150 million.
According to Citigroup executive Mitchell Habib, the software-services
contract would require 2,200 employees. "
I did google search on this CIO and it seems he used to give out similar
deals to TCS during his tenure at GE medical systems.
Source: Blonnet
Also notice the striking similarity between the two contracts where TCS gets
a portion of the contract irrespective of whether the work is done or NOT
- on GEMS deal
"According to Mr Habib, the companies worked on a `take or pay' model
wherein GEMS committed a particular amount as part of a contract
irrespective of the work done by TCS"
-on Citigroup deal
"A TCS official said that the deal was structured in such a manner that
Citi
would pay a certain assured amount to the company, even if TCS did not
execute services worth that much"
Is it the biggest welfare scheme for TCS, at the expense of Citi/GE
customers and shareholders ?
Probably this guy is now qualified for your "weasel" award. :(
I think the fraud committed by TCS should be exposed and H1-B visa system
should be stopped at least until these companies are thoroughly investigated
for their employment practices. It seems a massive fraud is perpetrated by
these companies where the victims are both American and Indian IT workers.
Please do everything you can to publicize this story.
