Indians curried favor with Cognizant, jury finds

After two trials and years of conflicting arguments, a jury decided that information technology provider Cognizant discriminated against non-South Asians and non-Indian South Asians in hiring and other aspects of employment.

Unusual discrimination suit

This unusual suit, filed by a class of over 2,000, showed that Cognizant sought out H-1B recipients from India—to the exclusion of others—to fill jobs and retain employment. Cognizant was the top user of H-1B recipients in the country during the roughly 10-year period covered by the suit, from 2013 through 2022.

Although the company argued the suit was little more than an overt attack on the H-1B program, the statistical evidence in the case was apparently determinative. For example, the company’s employes were 80% Indian. Yet, non-Indian and non-South Asians were 8.4 times more likely to be terminated than South Asians or Indians at the company. Other testimony indicated that non-Indian and non-South Asians were routinely excluded from decision-making and from meetings that were conducted in languages they didn’t speak.

Damages—which may include compensatory and punitive damages, as authorized by the jury—will be determined in a separate hearing. The judge will also make a separate determination on the “disparate impact” of the company’s actions based on the evidence presented at the trial because the jury was focused on determining any “disparate treatment” of the class.

H-1B program expands