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(CIOZone) By Tom Hoffman
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) contends that a Newark, N.J. software company named Peri Software Solutions Inc. has underpaid 163 workers on H-1B visas and owes them more than $1.45 million in back pay.
The H-1B visa program allows employers to temporarily hire foreign workers such as computer programmers and engineers. Under U.S. Labor laws, H-1B workers must be paid the same wage rates that are paid to U.S. workers who perform the same types of work. Or they must be paid prevailing wages rates for the specified area of employment, whichever is higher.
In a statement released by DOL, "The actions of Peri Software Solutions demonstrate the kind of abuses that our laws are designed to prevent," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Every worker deserves to be paid for his or her work, and the Labor Department is committed to holding those companies that violate our nation's labor laws accountable."
It’s a good first step in what appears to be a flagrant abuse of the H-1B program. But it’s not enough. Following an investigation by the agency’s Wage and Hour Division, the Newark-based company was found to have failed to pay the required prevailing wage to workers hired as computer analysts under the H-1B program. Investigators also found that the company forced employees to sign employment contracts and then sued them when those contracts were broken.
As a result of these alleged infractions, the company has been assessed a civil monetary penalty of $439,000 and faces a potential two-year debarment from the H-1B program by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Peri officials have not commented on the actions but a Labor Department spokeswoman says the company is seeking an administrative hearing to challenge the finding, according to Computerworld.
If the DOL is trying to send a message to other H-1B program abusers, then Peri Software, if guilty, should be slapped with a much stiffer fine and longer, if not permanent debarment from the H-1B program. As of Nov. 30, DOL listed 21 organizations as being debarred or disqualified from the H-1B program.
There are a lot of U.S. IT workers and other professionals who believe that the root of the problem is the H-1B program itself – how it is allegedly preventing qualified U.S. technicians from obtaining work – and not the abuse of it. In January, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued new guidance that’s aimed at limiting the ability of staffing companies to hire foreign professionals. The guidance places greater scrutiny around the validity of the employer-employee relationship.
It will be interesting to see how the H-1B situation plays out in coming months as the Obama Administration places jobs at the forefront of its domestic agenda. But for now, at least, it’s refreshing to see the DOL go after blatant abusers of the H-1B program.
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