|
 Printer-Friendly Version
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8743.
In separate cases involving Michigan computer firms, the
U.S. Labor Department fined and is seeking to debar one firm for violations of
the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and an administrative law judge
upheld the department's ruling on another firm concerning interpretation of the
act.
The department has assessed Syntel, Inc., of Troy, $77,702
in back wages and a separate $40,000 civil money penalty for alleged
nonimmigrant foreign worker violations. In addition, citing willful violations,
the department is seeking to debar Syntel from participating in a variety of
immigration programs for one year.
Syntel supplies computer programmers and analysts to
customer firms throughout the United States. Some of its employees are foreign
workers admitted under the H-1B visa program established in 1990.
The back wages and civil money penalty were assessed by
Labor's Wage and Hour Division after its investigation disclosed willful
violations of provisions of the Immigration and Nation- ality Act governing the
admission of nonimmigrant foreign workers for temporary employment in
"specialty occupations" under H-1B visas. These provisions are enforced by the
department.
"The Labor Department has the responsibility under the
immigration law to facilitate U.S. employers' needed access to international
labor markets and, at the same time, protect the interests of U.S. workers and
businesses from unfair competition based on sub-standard wages and working
conditions," said Bernard Anderson, assistant secretary of labor for the
Employment Standards Administration (ESA). "We have recently revised the
regulations governing the H-1B program to strengthen the protections for U.S.
workers and businesses in order to prevent the practices cited in this case and
maintain a level competitive playing field." ESA oversees the Wage Hour
Division.
The H-1B visa program allows for temporary (up to six
years) admission into the U.S. of up to 65,000 foreign workers each year in
certain "specialty occupations" such as engineers, teachers, computer
programmers, medical doctors and physical therapists. Employers wishing to gain
admission of such H-1B workers must certify, among other things, that they will
pay their foreign workers at least the same wage rate that is paid to other
workers already performing that job in the area where the work will be
performed.
Labor Department investigators examined Syntel's operations
in New Jersey and found that Syntel willfully paid about 40 of its H-1B
computer programmers less than the locally prevailing wage.
Maria Echaveste, head of the Wage and Hour Division, said,
"We intend to enforce this law vigorously to ensure that no employer of H-1B
workers will gain any unfair economic advantage by paying temporary foreign
workers less than would be paid to U.S. workers in the same occupation in the
area of employment. This law provides significant penalties which we are going
to use wisely and, where appropriate, to the fullest as part of our commitment
to deter violations."
The case was investigated under the authority of the
Michigan district director of the department's Wage and Hour Division, which
has jurisdiction over Syntel's headquarters.
In a separate matter relating to administration of the H-1B
program, Administrative Law Judge Daniel J. Rokentenetz issued a decision and
order supporting department rules dealing with the employment of nonimmigrant
H-1B workers. The judge's order became the final decision of the department
when Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich issued a March 29 notice declining to
review the judge's order.
Under the nonimmigrant foreign worker (H-1B) program, a
company wishing to employ such a worker must attest that it has notified other
workers in the same occupation of its intention to hire temporary foreign
workers, including information about the intended wages to be paid to H-1B
workers. This notification requirement helps to insure that all persons who
might be adversely affected by the employment of the foreign workers have
knowledge of the terms and conditions under which they are to be employed,
including how and where to file complaints of violations.
In his ruling, Rokentenetz upheld the decision of the Wage
and Hour Administrator in the case of Analytical Technologies, Inc. (Anatec),
Southfield, Mich.
Anatec is a computer consulting company that provides
software and consulting services to business and government. It has its main
office in Southfield, and branch offices in Houston, Indianapolis, and
Bloomington, Minn.
An investigation conducted by Wage and Hour in 1994
disclosed that Anatec failed to post notices of its intent to assign H-1B
workers at the site where they would be employed. Anatec also failed to give
notice of intended pay rates for the foreign workers and information about how
to file complaints. Wage and Hour directed Anatec to post the required notices
at each job site where H-1B workers were currently employed.
Anatec appealed the order to the department's chief
administrative law judge. It argued it could not be required to post notices at
worksites owned by its customers and should only have to post notices in its
own branch offices, even though neither the H-1B foreign employees nor U.S.
workers doing the same jobs actually worked in Anatec's offices since they
worked at the customers' office. Anatec also argued that posting its pay rates
for H-1B foreign workers would cause unrest among employees at the worksites of
its customers.
Rokentenetz rejected these arguments. "While unfortunate
from a business standpoint, Congress undoubtedly considered such consequences
in crafting the complaint-driven system by which employers' compliance ... is
monitored. Effective notice to similarly situated employees is critical to such
a system," he said.
Echaveste said, "We applaud this decision confirming our
long-held interpretation of this aspect of the law. The issues involved in this
case are of special importance for employers in the computer and health care
industries who assign H-1B employees to work at establishments operated by
other firms.
"This law is designed to meet the legitimate needs of
America's employers while at the same time effectively protecting the wages and
working conditions of U.S. workers. The notifi- cation requirements in the law
are an important part of the overall system intended to ensure the protection
of U.S. workers, and we will enforce these requirements whenever we investigate
employers of temporary H-1B foreign workers."
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
| 
