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Whistleblower In Limbo After Reporting H-1B Visa Fraud At Infosys
McGruber writes "The New York Times has the sad story of Jack B. Palmer, an employee of Infosys, the giant Indian outsourcing firm. 17 months ago, Mr. Palmer made a quiet internal complaint that Infosys was committing visa fraud by bringing 'in Indian workers on short-term visitor visas, known as B-1, instead of longer-term temporary visas, known as H-1B, which are more costly and time-consuming to obtain.' Since making his complaint, Mr. Palmer 'has been harassed by superiors and co-workers, sidelined with no work assignment, shut out of the company's computers, denied bonuses and hounded by death threats.'"
Jack B. Palmer first made a quiet complaint through internal channels at Infosys,
Was he really naive enough to think that these were the actions of some rogue managers and that the company would be thrilled to have him put it all in writing? Did he expect them to send him a Thank You letter, beginning with "Thank you for putting this illegal activity, that we've been quietly doing for years under the table, into writing. We really appreciate that you've opened us up now to criminal liability and that your complaint will cost us a fortune. We're so glad that you did this instead of looking the other way and keeping your fucking mouth shut like everyone else in the company. Here's your bonus!"
Dude, if you're going to be a whistleblower, accept that it means you have to burn that bridge. There is no going back across it and expecting everything to be the same afterwards. Being a whistleblower means making the right moral choice and then paying the price for it. Yeah that sucks--but what's new, huh? Jesus and Superman didn't fight the Romans and Lex Luther without expecting some backlash, you know.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
They should just outsource his job - true poetic justice.
www.chihuahuarescue.com- Help to end dog abuse, abandonment and cruelty
That's what happens to most whistleblowers.
It does not pay to do the right thing anymore. (if it ever did)
Hey at least he's not in jail like the goverment whistleblowers.
Infosys is out to make money. Companies are out to boost short term share prices. Do you think either care about the government's visa requirements?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
"The New York Times has the sad story of Jack B. Palmer, an employee of Infosys, the giant Indian outsourcing firm. 17 months ago, Mr. Palmer made a quiet internal complaint that Infosys was committing visa fraud by bringing 'in Indian workers on short-term visitor visas, known as B-1, instead of longer-term temporary visas, known as H-1B, which are more costly and time-consuming to obtain.'
Hopefully this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to more of these kinds of things.
Since making his complaint, Mr. Palmer 'has been harassed by superiors and co-workers, sidelined with no work assignment, shut out of the company's computers, denied bonuses and hounded by death threats.'"
Isn't that something called retaliation? People that have a vested interest in moving work offshore really hate it when there is evidence that you're doing it based on fraud - especially fraud that exposes them for being against US citizens.
If Infosys willing to do everything against this guy, he sure must have something damning enough to warrant death threats.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
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How are they getting around it? Are these workers completely undocumented? Are they lying at the border? Did they not fill out I-9s? Because if they filled out I-9s, and those were looked at by USCIS, this sort of thing would be picked up pretty goddamn quick.
Given the amount that I've personally spent on legal immigration, this pisses me off a little bit. I'm not exactly surprised, but it seems to be yet another case where breaking the law as an individual would have adverse consequences (e.g. in this case, where one would be banned from the United States between three years and indefinitely, depending on the overstay) while breaking the same law as a corporation is completely overlooked.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
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I think he did it to collect ammo for his lawsuit.
Let's assume he's not quite fond of his job, and now he records all this evidence against him. Not only does he collect the whistleblower's fee, but also any civil suit against his managers/ superiors.
I don't know, but it's something I'd only do near the end of my career and have enough saved up for retirement.
Perhaps he thought they were above-board and honest in their proceedings.
Either way, we win when there is exposed evidence of fraud.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
How many more stories will it take before people realize the new rules? Don't ever talk to police, don't reveal wrongdoing, don't defend yourself, don't try to save people.....
Should have reported it anonymously through an ethics hotline the company may have or an anonymous email to people within or may be cc some people outside the company.
For showing us you are utterly clueless how the real world works. Anything short of taking out a hit on someone I would not snitch on my employer about it. And maybe even not that.
There is much bigger reason why companies don't want to obtain H1-B. While on work visa, it's relatively easy to find some other employer willing to take you on H1-B or even on adjustment of status to Green Card. On the other hand, somebody working on B1 can't look for another job at all - he can't claim experience because it is illegal. Makes nice slaves. It used to be popular in 90s, but in little shops.
It doesn't change the fact that this guy is sitting at home being paid $90,000 a year (yes, I read the article) and whining about how he is going nuts because he doesn't have any real work to do.
He deserves it - over the last 7 years his job put plenty of his fellow citizens in the same position, minus the pay-check. I'd have the same level of sympathy for a crack dealer who complains about someone selling them fake drugs. None. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Rien.
He knew the details of the visas - that they were for people who were not supposed to be working in the country - and let's face it, he placed them anyway. So now he's going around with a gun strapped to his ankle (again, I read the story). He's in fear of his life and ready to blow people away (he drew down on a door-to-door salesman) because someone taped a print-out death threat to his office chair, and he's gotten a couple of crank phone calls?
He must have led a really, *really* sheltered life. Even high school would have been too much.
Let's call it what it is, Anti-Social Media.
The title says "H1-B visa fraud". But the fraud did not actually involve H1-B visas at all; it involved brining people in under B-1 ("business") visas - which do not permit working in U.S., but are for attending meetings, conferences and such - and then having them do actual work while in U.S. It is certainly a visa fraud, but its only relation to H1-B is that those people who were working have to be issued H1-B (or L-1, or one of several other types of visas permitting it) to work.
Is that just shoddy writing, or a a cheap attempt to stir up the usual flamewar over H1-Bs "stealing our jobs"?
When IBM,Accenture,E&Y do it, it is good business when TCS, Infosys do it it is headlines.
I don't see any difference between a company bringing over an Indan to the States and paying them the Indian wage on their contract, and people who take Guatamalan 12 year olds and sell them into prostitution.
I can pretty confidently say any death threats can be outright ignored, as to threaten death would imply the ability to logically plan the act and then execute it properly.
For us who aren't familiar with this visa system, whom did Palmer do a service by calling attention to the situation?
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
Elves? Elves are the factual basis on which Oracle is going after Google/Android?
You have got to be kidding me. The ludicrous nature of that alone points at how obscene patent law has become...
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Obviously child protective services failed him.
Seastead this.
“It is people like you that make us Indians angry,” said one he received by e-mail. “Why must you drag us down into poverty. You fat lazy greddy American.”
I just happen to love all these skinny hard-working generous doodes
Apparently, he is getting paid to sit at home and do nothing. If I were him, I would take up a side project. Write a book. Write open source software. Travel. Ask them to waive any agreement they have making anything you develop become theirs and prohibiting you from working elsewhere.
This is too much like a cockroach problem. Slashdotters have been complaining about these kinds of practices for a very long time. People need to befriend this whistle blower so he doesn't commit suicide or some violent crime. I get the feeling he was quite naive and believed he was doing "the right thing in the right way" and now he is paying the price with his physical and mental health. (If it was me, I'd be riding my bicycle and playing XBox games all day collecting a paycheck or finding other ways to enjoy the vacation... but maybe that's a stupid idea too for reasons I haven't yet considered.) I have dealt with some ugly situaitons in the past (though not quite as ugly as this) and I simply had to maintain my course and attitude through it all. I had to remember not to let "other parties" determine who I am and that I will not change who I am in response to anything anyone else does to me. I also had to keep my eyes on the horizon rather than focusing on "here and now."
These companies like Infosys are scum. They want to play in the US market and make US dollars, but they don't want to play by US laws and are willing to commit criminal acts in the name of business. I hope people are imprisoned, deported and businesses get shut down. And before anyone makes claims about killing industries and all that nonsense, I just have to say it'll never happen. There is still a lot of money to be made in the software business even when playing by the rules and operating within the law. The only problem these fat, greedy, lazy Indian companies have is they don't want to SHARE the profits according to the law and according to any sense of fairness and respect.
The only thing that matters is that in the separation of powers, Congress gives its consent to military actions, regardless of what label you put on it. Given that Congress has given its clear consent to the "War on Terror," any such arguments are bunk. This has a history at least all the way back to President Jefferson and the First Barbary War, so arguments that the Founding Fathers would not agree are obviously wrong.
Here's a secret the government has: Everything known about you: your name, income, deductions, taxes, address, work history, and much more. I think we the people deserve to know that, don't you?
Even companies publishing financial statements don't publish trade secrets in them.
Agreed. Take a baseball bat straigt to the head of these companies. Gather and release. Make it public and nuke them from space.
All too often the most evil actions are created by big organisations. They all tend towards being sociopathic.
Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Why don't all the Indians stay in their own (shithole of a) country?
Not enough white women there?
Why do you support your own genocide (if you're white, and aren't against mass immigration into white countries)?
Any answers?
There should be a bounty system for whistleblowers to go straight to the government.
Companies who do these things are the enemy, not to be warned before being struck down.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
It's misleading to call this H1-b fraud, since that suggests that people are using H1-b visas to commit fraud. Rather, it's B1-fraud; companies are using B1 visas because H1-b visas have become too hard to get.
Remember WorldCom, and Enron.. and the "Solution"? The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was designed to prevent financial malpractice. It was enacted in 2004 with the purpose of streamlining corporate reporting guidelines. Well listen to the following: http://renaissance.libsyn.com/peacerevolution/project-constellation-connect-the-dots-see-the-big-picture-may-31-2006-transmission-to-the-future-of-america-by-richard-grove Richard Andrew Grove worked for a Software Company that produced Sarbanes-Oxley compliant software, when he discovered it had a "backdoor" to erase .jar files.. he became a Whistle Blower, he contacted the SEC, was then harassed by his Employer - then fired. To add insult to injury the SEC knowing the software had a back door, made the software a "legal requirement" and purchased it's own copy of the fraudulent software.
Mr. Grove went to court, and acting as his own defense was proven to be right, but the Court ruled the Statute of Limitations had passed.
The software is still in use.
Sounds like a bad novel, but unfortunately Very True. Mr. Grove should be an American Hero..not a "Whistle blower Scorned"
We need all the skilled labor we can get.
And he's complaining. Really?
The company is paying you to sit at home because firing you right now would look really bad in the middle of all this and you are farking bitching about it?
Shut the f$@# up and go back to watching television.
I've only worked in one shop where we have had indian contractors. A rather strange bunch at that, but after all i have read and all that i know, i'm not terrably surprised. I think that the United States needs to more tightly control these H1B and H-1 Visas. It would be a difficult job, since uncle sam would literaly have to get into the employment and contracting business to control the amount of people coming in. And of course i'm sure there would be some gaming of the system even than, or the application devlopement work would switch to a strictly overseas model, with corporate networks expanding into India to serve the contractors without them even having to leave their homes.
Russian empire collapse: Breshnev, fiscal mismanagement, covered by forced borrowing from Eastern European banks.
American empire, Bush, fiscal mismanagement, covered by forced money printing.
It's no different to a company collapsing, they make mistakes, then it sort of snowballs to collapse and the 'mistake' always blames his predecessors, the climate, the opposition, yet clearly was the mistake.
That was Bush, spend like crazy, cut taxes for the rich, ran up a huge deficit, doubled the US$ in circulation without a single year of positive exports. He's set the collapse momentum that can't be turned around within the next 5-10 presidential terms. He ran Arbusto into the ground too I seem to recall, the oil company he similarly mismanaged.
Jesus is Entropy? Cool!
There are a lot of those "Jesus is _____" billboards on the buses here in Seattle, and sometimes stuck in traffic it's fun to play mad libs. But I never thought of that one. Kudos to you, couchslug!
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Jack B. Palmer first made a quiet complaint through internal channels at Infosys,
Was he really naive enough to think that these were the actions of some rogue managers and that the company would be thrilled to have him put it all in writing?
I am studying ethics in college (part of paper P1, Governance, Risk and Ethics, if anybody is keeping count), and conflict resolution in a major topic in there.
The *problem* (if it can be said to be a problem) is that conflict resolution actually requires you do this. You can't just quit, or sue, in either case the moral dilemma and it's consequences don't just leave you. (the quiting part is especially noticeable, you may be considered a rat leaving a sinking ship, and not quiting merely on moral grounds, so don't think you are free of the blame)
The proper method is to:
a: Utilize existing internal conflict resolution means, if they exist (the ideas letterbox, no really!)
b: Discuss with a senior, experienced fellow / colleague that may guide you (your professional body, if you are member of one, can and *will* help, that's what you are paying an annual membership fee for!)
c: Write to senior management (The relevant Director, BoD...)
d: if all else fails THEN quit / whitsleblow / sue / whatever
Given his position, he did the write thing by first highlighting the issue in a *quiet* internal memo. This allowed the corporation to fix the issue *quietly* without loosing goodwill.
But now that the company's attitude is clear, he can (or rather, this being a legal matter, *must*) now act as a citizen and contact his lawyer as to how best handle this situation.
TL;DR: There is a proper procedure, ethically, which you must follow. You can't just start the WAHHHmbulence at the slightest fault.
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
âoeThey did the worst thing they could do to someone who is used to working 80 hours a week,â Mr. Palmer said.
Why the hell would you work an 80-hour week?
$90K/year (also mentioned in the article) at 80 hours/week works out to $22.50/hour. I made that much on my first real job out of college, in a down market, in a low-cost-of-living area (and I still considered myself underpaid!). Sure makes me feel better...
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I am in an interesting situation. The place where I work knows a senior staffer has done no work for 5 years.. arrives late.. and leaves early. Yet, nothing is done. This person is now a manager and still does no work and nothing happens.
It has been made well clear to me that if I complain then I am at fault.
So, we can now look forward to paying over $100k to an employee who cuts time and does nothing, and no one can complain.
Will I report this? Hell no. Why? See TFA.
My feeling go out to him, what he did took guts and bravery. Sadly it just shows the state of business ethics or better yet the total lack of it.
If I was able to hire him for a board seat I would..
Again
Thank you
()-()
The problem with "free trade" is that it results in a race to the bottom on all fronts - work environments, wages, corporate governance, taxes, tax-funded services, inspections, pollution, safety, etc.
We tried this experiment, and it is a failure.
The rule should be simple - if you want access to our market, you play by our rules. Same standards for labour, pollution controls, safety inspections, etc. Don't want to contribute back to the country by creating jobs locally? Then expect to contribute back by paying tariffs.
China does a lot worse. Want to sell in China? They demand that any foreign company partner up with a local entity, and that the local entity own the majority of the merged business. They also demand (and get) technology transfers. That is not "free trade" in any shape, matter, or form. So forget it - free trade is already dead, and those who insist on sticking with the illusion are going to continue to pay a heavy economic toll.
Let's call it what it is, Anti-Social Media.
There is so much talk about how bad illegal immigrants are for the US, but the H1-B program is really the evil. I'm not worried about illegals coming in and doing yard work or fast food, they aren't really hurting our economy. These H1-B's are taking American jobs. These big companies say "There aren't enough qualified people in the US." but that is a total crock of crap. What they really mean is "There aren't enough qualified people willing to work for low pay and crap benefits so we need to bring over these people who will work for peanuts and lower the American standard of living." The H1-B program should be eliminated, then we would see unemployment start to come down and students take more of an interest in technology. Who wants to spend $20K - $50K on and engineering or cs degree when American companies are either hiring H1-B's or sending the work overseas? American companies should have to pay through the nose to hire foreigners, period. And ESPECIALLY the big banks that took our bailout money yet continue to send American jobs overseas.
So you must consider that the "reporter" may have exaggerated somewhat, or left out key information, or otherwise presented the facts selectively.
Time to get the the FBI involved on a whole different footing because making terrorists threats against someone, especially someone who is exposing the fraudulent transfer of foreign nationals into the country, is basically starting to get into Homeland Security territory.
How many failed projects does Infosys et. al. have to head up before companies start getting smart and just learn to leave the bodyshops alone? India is a fascinating place filled with very smart people, but none of them work for Infosys. As to infosys's management, they obviously still think their in India where all law, except perhaps blaspheme laws, is optional depending on whose palm you're greasing.
Welcome to America, where we take shit like this seriously and by and large federal agents are not for sale and laws are not optional.
Here's your new cellmate. His name is Bubba. You're going to be best friends.
So, what you're saying is that they have to fear 1.) being held accountable and 2.) losing money as a result. History seems to indicate that this will not be the case, but hope springs eternal.
:)
BTW, welcome to the US, we're not quite as bad as the rest of the world thinks we are.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
Indians and Indian companies having been scamming the US and fortunately with the America's appalling education system most Americans are too dumb or too full of diversity propaganda to see it happening.
And in the meantime the Times of India runs stories on how stupid Americans are and how fortunate they have clever better educated Indians going over to the US to help them out and provide guidance for them. They then usually list Indian CEOs running American companies or who are VCs in Silicon Valley
And you know what the Times of India is probably right. A nations that is so easily suckered clearly needs help from the master cheats on the planet. (Although arguably the Chinese could beat out the Indians.)
Silly Yanks celebrating diversity as the country tanks........
Ah yes, "the world's leading Holocaust denial organization"
Sorry if I don't take them as authoritative. Even if they cite sources, you can be sure they are twisted.
How about a believable source?
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