Tata Group’s TCS reportedly got partial relief in a discrimination lawsuit case in a New Jersey court, in the US on Wednesday. Last year, a former employee of the company, Shawn Katz filed a lawsuit against the IT giant in the United States alleging for racial discrimination against non-South Asian and non-Indian applicants and employees.
Katz was with TCS for nine years before being let go. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on 7 December.
The lawsuit claims that TCS systematically discriminates against non-South Asian and non-Indian applicants and employees “concerning hiring, staffing, benching, termination, and promotion decisions” and that this policy is implemented top-down at the company.
This year on 3 March Katz filed an amended complaint on behalf of himself and of a class of “non-Soth Asians and non-Indians who were employed by TCS and met the criteria for a promotion but were not promoted, and/or were employed by TCS and were involuntarily terminated,” according to the Economic Times report. He also sought reinstatement and sought injunctive relief on behalf of the class.
WHAT COURT ORDER SAID?
As per the order by Justice Brian R Martinotti on 10 August, the New Jersey court has trimmed the lawsuit by tossing one of the three claims made by Katz.
The US court did not move forward with Katz’s disparate impact claim under Title VII (equality before law) because he was unable to establish a ‘prima facie’ case for it, as per MoneyControl report.
Title VII prohibits both intentional and unintentional discrimination even if they have a disproportionately adverse effect on minorities.
However, the court said that Katz’s allegations sound like disparate treatment, rather than disparate impact. Disparate treatment refers to intentional discrimination.
The order stated, “TCS’s benching, hiring, and termination policies to maximize visa-holders, who Katz alleges are “almost exclusively South Asianfollowed by TCS prioritizing those visa-holders for TCS positions, are not facially neutral policies because Katz …alleges TCS implements these policies to further a preference for South Asians and Indians”.
On the amended complement, the court has allowed the motion to move forward.
TCS dealt with a similar lawsuit in 2015, and it subsequently won the case in 2018.
In 2018, a California district court ruled in favour of TCS. At the time, the jury determined that TCS did not have a “pattern or practice” of discriminating against non-South Asian workers.
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Updated: 23 Aug 2023, 09:24 AM IST
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