(José Niño, Headline USA) Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is facing a bipartisan barrage from Congress, as Senate leaders demand the IT giant explain its stunning wave of H-1B approvals while domestic layoffs soar.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Ill. sent a blistering letter to Tata Consultancy Services CEO Krithi Krithivasan on Tuesday, demanding the Indian IT giant explain why it hired thousands of foreign workers while laying off American employees.
The bipartisan inquiry, part of a broader investigation into 10 major corporations, focuses on TCS’s decision to seek approval for 5,505 H-1B visas in fiscal year 2025 while simultaneously announcing plans to eliminate over 12,000 jobs worldwide.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, the company became the second-largest employer of newly approved H-1B beneficiaries nationally. TCS rose up the H-1B ranks as it conducted mass layoffs, including nearly five dozen employees at its Jacksonville office alone last month.
“With all of the homegrown American talent relegated to the sidelines, we find it hard to believe that TCS cannot find qualified American tech workers to fill these positions,” the senators wrote in their Tuesday letter. The lawmakers gave TCS until October 10 to provide detailed responses to nine questions about its hiring practices, wage policies, and treatment of American workers.
The congressional scrutiny comes as TCS faces mounting controversies over its employment practices. The Times of India reported that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is currently investigating allegations that the company systematically discriminated against older American workers in favor of South Asian H-1B employees.
Dozens of former TCS employees, primarily professionals over 40 from non-South Asian backgrounds, have filed complaints claiming they were disproportionately targeted for layoffs while Indian colleagues on H-1B visas were retained.
The discrimination allegations extend beyond simple layoff decisions. According to complaints filed with federal investigators, TCS head of global HR Milind Lakkad allegedly stated the company planned to reduce American workers from 70% to 50% of its U.S. workforce to “open up opportunities for employees in India,” per the Times of India report.
Representative Seth Moulton formally urged the EEOC to investigate TCS in April 2024, writing that the company’s actions “may have constituted a pattern-or-practice of discrimination impacting Americans.”
The Massachusetts Democrat’s intervention came after multiple former employees reported harsh treatment during layoffs, including a 30-year veteran who was given just 20 minutes to decide between early retirement or termination with no severance package, according to a report by The Financial Express.
TCS’s troubles extend far beyond immigration policy disputes. The company faces serious legal challenges over trade secret theft, with federal juries awarding Epic Systems $940 million in 2016 after finding TCS stole confidential healthcare software information, as BankInfoSecurity reported. A separate case resulted in a $210 million judgment against TCS for stealing source code from Computer Science Corp, per a report by Jennery & Block.
The Economic Times reported that former employees have also accused TCS of visa fraud, alleging the company misused L-1A manager visas by falsely classifying front-line workers as managers to bypass H-1B restrictions. As The Economic Times covered, Anil Kini, a former IT manager, filed lawsuits under the False Claims Act alleging TCS directed him to alter organizational charts to justify L-1A applications for unqualified employees.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
