The Hindu Business Line : Patni paying $2.4 m to `underpaid' US workers

New Delhi June 8 Even as the debate on H-1B visa rages in the US, India's sixth largest software exporter, Patni Computer Systems, has agreed to pay over $2.4 million to over 600 non-immigrant computer professionals, following an investigation by the US Department of Labour.

An investigation by the Department's Wage and Hour Division had found that professionals employed by Patni under the H-1B visa programme "were not paid required wages for the period between January 2004 and December 2005."

A US Labour Department spokesperson, Mr John M. Chavez, told Business Line: "The official communication was sent late last month and it refers to 607 workers distributed across 32 US States."

The move comes at a time when the US Senate has been debating the contentious Immigration Bill, which proposes to hike the yearly cap of H-1B visas to 115,000 from 65,000 now.

Last month, Mr Charles Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa, and Mr Richard Durbin, a Democratic senator from Illinois, wrote to nine Indian companies, asking them for details on their use of H1-B visas.

Among the companies that received these letters were TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Patni and Tech Mahindra.

These nine companies are said to account for close to 20,000 H1-B visas.

The H-1B visa programme permits employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in professional occupations such as computer programmers, engineers, physicians and teachers.

As per the norms, H-1B workers must be paid at least the same wage rates as are paid to US workers who perform the same types of work or the prevailing wages in the areas of intended employment.

The Wage and Hour Division is responsible for enforcing the H-1B wage provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, in addition to other federal laws pertaining to wage payments.

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