Question

A citizen of India was hired through an international recruitment firm to work in the U.S. as a computer analyst at a salary of $42,000 per year. He received a H-1B visa, left his old job and family and came to the U.S. Upon his arrival, he was informed that the position had already been filled and that he would be employed as a gas station cashier and paid at less than the minimum wage. The employee worked for a period of time and then sued. a) What are the employee's legal claims? b) What are the employer's defenses? c) If the computer analyst position was already filled by the time the employee had arrived, what could the employer have done to avoid the situation?

Answer 1

1. The employee's legal claims are that he was hired through an international recruitment firm to work in the U.S. as a computer analyst in the company and also received a H-1B visa to work in the US. Since he had all the proof provided by the International recruitment firm to work in that company and also was provided H-1B visa by the recruitment firm, hence he was entitled for the job.

2. Employer's defenses would be that the employee was not provided any job confirmation letter or job description from the employer regarding the job and any action take by the international recruitment firm or by the employee is not the responsibility of the employer since the employer did not confirm that the employee could join their office and work as a computer analyst.

3. If the computer analyst position was already filled by the time the employee had arrived, the employer could have informed the employee beforehand at the time when the position was filled so that the employee would not have made all the arrangements to come to the US and leave his present job and incur all the expenses in coming to the US and living there.