US judge orders Infosys to settle dispute with employee at mediation conference

A US federal judge has ordered IT major Infosys, accused of committing a visa fraud, and Jack Palmer the firm's employee who has levelled the charge, to settle their dispute at a conference later this month, according to a US-based news portal itebusiness edge. The case is expected to come up for trial next month.

The report said, US district court judge Myron H Thompson has ordered a mediation conference with counsels for both sides. "The two sides were directed to provide to the mediator, on or before July 23, confidential mediation statements that were not to be filed with the clerk's office or to be served on each other," the report said.

Mediation conferences are typically held to bring rival parties together and explore possibility of dispute settlement in front of a neutral third party. This was a standard procedure according to a spokesman for the firm, who spoke to The Economic Times.

The matter first came up in February last year, when Jack Palmer, who has been a principal consultant with the company, since 2008, accused it of seeking his help to beat H-1B visa rules by sending unskilled employees to the US on short-term B1 business visas. Palmer said, Infosys executives in the US committed the fraud to avoid paying taxes.

Foreign companies require H-1B visas, which are getting harder to get, to send their employees to work in the US. Last month, iGate founder Phaneesh Murthy told the business daily, companies that wanted to send 10 employees to the US, had to apply for at least 30 visas.

Infosys has also been accused by Palmer of mistreating him when he filed a complaint last year as a part of the company's whistle blower policy.