Infosys faces legal action in the US over discrimination

Infosys is facing allegations of gender biasness, as a former senior recruiter Jill Prejean filed a suit in US court alleging that the firm discriminated and retaliated against her when she pointed out discriminatory practices.

According to Prejean, when she joined the company, she faced a rampant culture of illegal discriminatory animus among the partner level executives based on age, gender and caregiver status.

Infosys’ action to dismiss the claims made by Prejean was rejected by a judge from the United States District Court Southern District of New York. The court asked the defendants to file their answer within 21 days from the date of this opinion and order. The suit has been filed against Infosys, former senior VP and head of consulting Mark Livingston and former partners Dan Albright and Jerry Kurtz.

Prejean was hired as a VP of talent acquisition. According to her suit, she had set up meetings with Infosys’ partners to learn about hiring needs and preferences. According to it, Prejean was hired to find and recruit “hard-to-find executives” to work as partners or VPs in the consulting division. As part of these meetings, partners allegedly expressed unwillingness to hire additional consultants of Indian origin, women with children at home, and candidates over the age of 50.

The former talent acquisition VP also alleged that she went through harassment, hostility, and pressure from Livingston, Kurtz, and Albright “as part of a pressure campaign to persuade her to discriminate when recruiting Infosys employees.”

Last year as well, four former female employees of the company approached the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and filed a complaint that the company has “repeatedly discriminated in favour of male and Indian employees, especially at senior levels”.