RITU JHA-

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has asked the Department of Labor to investigate claims that HCL systematically violated the law by paying its H-1B workers much less than its U.S. employees with similar skills and doing the same work. The assertion is that HCL appears to have stolen at least $95 million per year in wages from these employees.

The report, released Dec. 9, was co-authored by Ron Hira, who is an EPI research associate and associate professor at Howard University. He told indica this is an extraordinary report based on HCL’s own data.

HCL is India’s third-largest IT outsourcing firm, generating 63% of its $11 billion in revenue in the United States. HCL America, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HCL Technologies Limited and was incorporated in California in 1988 as HCL America, Inc.

The company, which has 26 offices within the United States, has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, and employs over 20,000 people in the U.S. HCL’s clients include USAA, Merck, Google, T-Mobile, Boeing, Keurig Dr Pepper, FedEx, Intel, Deutsche Bank, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, Cisco, Disney, University of California, and Microsoft.

Allegations of wage fraud came up when HCL faced a court case filed by its employees on the alleged H-1B temporary work visa program. An internal HCL document, released as part of a whistleblower lawsuit against the firm, shows that large-scale illegal underpayment of H-1B workers is a core part of the firm’s competitive...

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