Cognizant Discriminated Against Non-Indian Workers, US Jury Says (bloomberg.com)
- Reference: 0175209245
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/08/0624236/cognizant-discriminated-against-non-indian-workers-us-jury-says
- Source link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-08/cognizant-discriminated-against-non-indian-workers-us-jury-says
> The verdict came after the IT firm failed to persuade a Los Angeles federal judge last month to toss a 2017 job bias class-action lawsuit when a previous trial ended with a deadlocked jury. A Cognizant spokesperson said the company is disappointed with the verdict and plans to appeal. "We provide equal employment opportunities for all employees and have built a diverse and inclusive workplace that promotes a culture of belonging in which all employees feel valued, are engaged and have the opportunity to develop and succeed," Jeff DeMarrais said in an emailed statement.
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> Bloomberg News reported in July that the Teaneck, New Jersey-based company was among a handful of outsourcing firms exploiting loopholes in the H1-B visa lottery system. The company defended its practices, saying it's fully compliant with US laws on the visa process. Cognizant also said that in recent years it has increased its US hiring and reduced its dependence on the H1-B program.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-08/cognizant-discriminated-against-non-indian-workers-us-jury-says
So many (Score:2)
Surprised this isn't about TCS.
Re: (Score:2)
Or Wipro where non-Indian workers are replaced by lower cost and lower competence personnel typically within a year of a contract win.
Import the third world (Score:1, Insightful)
Become the third world.
Re: Import the third world (Score:2)
Not when you hand pick high quality talent from the third world. Not saying they are doing that in this case, but the US does have ways to bring in exceptional talent, and should encourage another nation's talented workers to come to the US.
Unfortunately, the current system tends to bring in mid to lower level talent at bargain prices.
Re: (Score:3)
The current system makes visa holders far too dependent on sponsor companies to maintain their visa status. If you want top tier talent from other countries, they need more options than just one sponsor.
Re: (Score:2)
> Become the third world.
Yes, [1]indeed [buzzfeednews.com].
[1] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/mar-a-lago-rejected-dozens-of-americans-in-favor-of-foreign
Kindly, (Score:1)
do the needful. Rest is fine.
Self-evident Untruth (Score:2)
> We ... have built a diverse and inclusive workplace that promotes a culture of belonging ...
The very fact that employees brought this case shows that they did not.
No brainer. Cost is everything. (Score:2)
Let's be honest. South Asian contractors are way, way cheaper than their Western equivalents. Why? Because there are millions of them, and they live in a poverty-ridden country with a waleak currency and can accept rates that are a fraction of the minimum wage in developed countries and still survive.
Meanwhile, executives don't care about quality of work and about where the staff is from as long as it's cheap. Bottom line is everything.
The only answer to this problem is to legislate and to force companies t
A path forward (Score:1)
There is a very simple way to avoid bias in hiring; to give the most qualified person the job regardless of sex, race, creed, age, or other mostly irrelevant criteria. Unfortunately in many cases it's de-facto and even de-jure illegal: Blind hiring. Have someone interview the candidate and ask the same questions to each one. Have a completely different person view the answers listed as "candidate 1, candidate 2, candidate 3" along with the resumes. It's the best possible match to ML King Jr.'s dream.
Re:A path forward (Score:4, Insightful)
That sounds like a great solution if the only thing that matters is the ability to answer questions in a written form. I believe that is rarely the case though, and it shouldn't be, unless you want a bunch of people who love to be technically correct but are impossible to work with.
It also assumes that there is no implicit bias in the questions, or in their interpretation, which I don't think matches reality. It's like AI models reproducing the bias from their training data.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea. I just think it would be naive to see it as a silver bullet that solves bias.
Re: (Score:3)
The lawsuit wasn't even about hiring, it was about the hostile work environment and firing. HR hired some token whites and females and threw them into a work environment with way above average levels of racism and misogynism for the expected results.
It would take a lot more beatings for Indian dominated companies/departments to shape up. Statistically significantly more than native majority, but that would also imply racism in the minds of idiots, so they can countersue and stay more racist. Ahhh the great
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately in many cases it's de-facto and even de-jure illegal: Blind hiring.
Blind hiring is not illegal. In fact, blind hiring is what is needed if people are so concerned about getting the most qualified person. Since any evidence of race, age, etc are not known, the only thing to go on are the person's qualfications.
The problem is, blind hiring increases diversity and since diversity is a naughty word, companies don't want to use it.
Have someone interview the candidate and ask the same questions
Re: (Score:1)
If blind hiring increases diversity bring it on. A great win win solution. The right and left all happy. The right want the best candidate regardless of race or sex. The left wants diversity so great!
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Blind hiring reduces diversity, because it focuses on excellence. And excellence is concentrated in a very homogenous group of people. Current DEI crowd calls excellence a feature of whiteness and has long stood in diametric opposition to it throughout their literature.
This is why it in fact either already illegal or in process of being outlawed everywhere where "diversity" is a key consideration.