Software major Infosys is facing further questioning from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), regarding the legality of its employees working there.
In a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company had said that the DHS is reviewing the eligibility of employees working in the US, after it found ‘significant percentage' of errors in Forms I-9 of some of its employees working in the country. If the DHS concludes that the forms contained erroneous information, a penalty ranging from $110 - $1,100 for each form would be charged.
Form I-9 is an employment eligibility verification form provided by the US Federal Government to companies that deploy manpower from countries outside the US. Every hired employee has to fill up the I-9 form at the time of hiring.
An Infosys spokesperson issued a statement to Business Line : “Yes, we have provided information requested by DHS. At this time, we cannot predict the final outcome of the review by, or the discussions with, the DHS, or other governmental authority regarding the review of our Forms I-9. We are constantly working in many areas to improve our policies and practices, to ensure that our internal controls are sound and to make sure that they are best in class.”
The issue of visa irregularity came to light first in May last year when Infosys received a subpoena from a grand jury in a US District Court in connection with a lawsuit filed by Mr Jack Palmer, one of its US-based employees who accused the company of visa irregularities.
While Infosys does not give out geography-based employee breakup, 9,000 of its employees are non-Indians. The company has filed for 2,000 H1-B visas in FY12 as compared to 3,000 in the 2011 fiscal.
> venkatesh.ganesh@thehindu.co.in
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.