ORLANDO,FL-In a major victory for the H-1B visa program – which has come under much scrutiny by anti-immigration critics, a federal judge here has dismissed the claims of two former Walt Disney Company employees who claimed visa laws were broken by Cognizant Technology Solutions and HCL America in conspiring with Disney to replace them with foreign workers whom they were later forced to train.
The US District Court in Orlando rejected the former workers’ arguments that Disney and the two contractors had colluded to make false statements when they applied for H-1B visas for the foreign replacements.
The judge found that “none of the allegedly false statements put at issue in the complaint are adequate” to sustain the former workers’ case, reported The New York Times. Between 200 and 300 Disney IT workers were laid off last year, and some workers said they had to train their visa-holding replacements, reported Computer World. A spokeswoman for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, , said, “As we have said all along, this lawsuit was completely baseless, and we are gratified by the decision.”
The former workers’ cases hinged on their argument that the companies had violated clauses of the visa law requiring employers to show that hiring H-1B workers “will not adversely affect the working conditions” of other workers in similar jobs. The law also requires large outsourcing companies that employ many H-1B workers to certify in some circumstances that those workers “will not displace any similarly employed U.S. worker” within six months of applying for the visa.
The outsourcing companies argued that the law would apply to them only if the American workers who were displaced by visa holders they hired had originally been their employees, not Disney’s. The court was persuaded by that argument, although it did not entirely reject the idea that the Americans were “adversely affected” by being fired, reported the Times.
Computer World reported that despite the setback to the fired workers, a new lawsuit alleging national origin discrimination may be filed in the next month, and an amended lawsuit may be filed by October 24.
The judge found that “none of the allegedly false statements put at issue in the complaint are adequate” to sustain the former workers’ case, reported The New York Times. Between 200 and 300 Disney IT workers were laid off last year, and some workers said they had to train their visa-holding replacements, reported Computer World. A spokeswoman for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, , said, “As we have said all along, this lawsuit was completely baseless, and we are gratified by the decision.”
The former workers’ cases hinged on their argument that the companies had violated clauses of the visa law requiring employers to show that hiring H-1B workers “will not adversely affect the working conditions” of other workers in similar jobs. The law also requires large outsourcing companies that employ many H-1B workers to certify in some circumstances that those workers “will not displace any similarly employed U.S. worker” within six months of applying for the visa.
The outsourcing companies argued that the law would apply to them only if the American workers who were displaced by visa holders they hired had originally been their employees, not Disney’s. The court was persuaded by that argument, although it did not entirely reject the idea that the Americans were “adversely affected” by being fired, reported the Times.
Computer World reported that despite the setback to the fired workers, a new lawsuit alleging national origin discrimination may be filed in the next month, and an amended lawsuit may be filed by October 24.
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