Tech Visa Lawsuit Raises Questions About New Jersey Politicians

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 22:16:56 -0800
From: Richard Pauli <rpauli () speakeasy net>
Subject: Tech Visa Lawsuit Raises Questions About New Jersey Politicians
X-Sender: rpauli () mail speakeasy net
To: dave () farber net

Dave,

For IP - looks like the courts will be coming into this fray:

RP

----------------------------
From:  http://www.washtech.org/wt/news/industry/display.php?ID_Content=4640

Tech Visa Lawsuit Raises Questions About New Jersey Politicians

By Jeff Nachtigal
WashTech News
        
A five-year wait for two software programmers who were granted federal 
class-action status in their lawsuit against a software company with ties 
to a U.S. Senator may be nearing a close.

Sona Shah and Kai Barrett allege that Wilco Systems, Inc., a financial 
services company based in New York, discriminated against its employees 
based on their citizenship and immigration status.

Shah and Barrett say they filed the lawsuit on behalf of U.S. workers who 
are discriminated against in favor of foreign workers, and on behalf of 
foreign H-1B visa workers who are paid less than the prevailing wage for 
U.S. workers with similar qualifications.

Shah is a U.S. citizen. Barrett is British citizen who was transferred from 
Wilco's London office to work in New York in 1996 on an H-1B visa.

The case also casts a shadow over four-term U.S. Senator Frank L. 
Lautenberg (D-NJ), founder and former board member of Advanced Data 
Processing, Inc., the parent company of Wilco. In 2002 ADP, Inc. reported 
over $7 billion in revenue.

Sen. Lautenberg's alleged inaction on H-1B and L-1 visa issues, combined 
with the steady outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries from his state, 
have frustrated New Jersey IT workers, who have seen their state gutted by 
the outsourcing of high-tech jobs over the past five years.

"I think it's one of the worst cases of visa abuse that I've ever seen by 
any single company," says Mike Gildea, executive director of the Department 
of Professional Services for the AFL-CIO.

---snip --

http://www.washtech.org/wt/news/industry/display.php?ID_Content=4640

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