Mediation efforts fail, Infosys visa row to go to court

The Infosys whistleblower case against an employee Jack Jay Palmer will go for trial on 20 August 2012 with the mediation process between Infosys and Jack Kay Palmer falling through.

An Infosys spokesperson said despite judge Coody's earnest attempts to help the parties forge a settlement the mediation hearing was not successful. He added the company was now looking forward to presenting the facts of the case in open court on 20 August.

Palmer had alleged that he had been subjected to harassment and retaliation by the company which has denied the charges. Infosys was also battling separate US government criminal probe on alleged visa and tax fraud following the lawsuit by its employee. 

The mediation was called after US federal judge hearing Palmer's visa fraud allegation case against Infosys ordered a mediation conference on 24 July to settle the case. The  mediation effort pertained to the civil case between Palmer and Infosys, and not for the grand jury probe against the company for which the trial is to come up in August.

In a mediation conference, parties submit their dispute to a neutral third party who helps them reach a settlement.

According to Palmer's allegation Infosys was misusing B1 businesses visas issued by the US. B1 visas are meant for short-term business visitors and not for employees on onsite work assignmentss.

Palmer later told US news broadcaster CBS that what caught his attention first was an employee who had been in the US from India several times before. He then started getting to the bottom of how and why Infosys seemed to be bringing in large numbers of workers from its corporate headquarters in Bangalore into the US.

According to Palmer, the Indian workers on his team were paid significantly less than the amount an American would have got on the same job. When the US State Department started limiting the number of H-1B visas, according to Palmer, Infosys began using another type of visa, the B-1.