US jury rules in favour of TCS over alleged discrimination

New Delhi: India's largest software firm TCS on Thursday said that its employee hiring and retention practices are based purely on capabilities, "irrespective" of background or national origin, as a US jury ruled in favour of the company in a case involving charges of discrimination.

A California jury unanimously sided with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), saying the Indian company did not discriminate against non-south Asian workers in the US as alleged in a lawsuit, marking a significant win for the Indian IT outsourcing industry.

"We have always maintained, the claims made in this case were baseless and we are gratified that the jury agreed...So the decisions we make about the hiring and retention of employees are based purely on their capabilities and fit in serving our customers' business needs," a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) spokesperson said in a statement here.

The success of TCS rests on the talents, expertise and deep industry knowledge of its employees, who help customers in growth and transformation journeys, the spokesperson added.

The company asserted it will continue to invest in its people, impart digital training and empower them to succeed at TCS and enable customers' success, "irrespective of their background or national origin".

Describing itself as a "global company", TCS said that United States - where it has been operating for over 40 years - is world's business and technology leader and very important to the company.

"Skilled American workers are critical to the success of the US business and to the nation's economic success, and we will continue to invest heavily in the country's workforce, academic alliances and our extensive youth STEM education initiatives," TCS spokesperson said.

According to a report in legal news portal law360.com, the unanimous nine-member jury found in an Oakland, California court Wednesday that the TCS did not have a "pattern or practice" of intentionally discriminating against non-south Asian workers due to their race or national origin.

The verdict came after one day of deliberations, ending a trial that began on November 5 over a class action lawsuit brought by three former TCS employees, Christopher Slaight, Seyed Amir Masoudi and Nobel Mandili, who claimed in the suit that they received fewer work opportunities and were eventually fired because of their races and national origins.

The report said that their attorney presented data claiming that the company has fired less than one per cent of its south Asian employees, who are mostly Indian, in the US, compared with 10.6 per cent of its non-south Asian employees.

The suit also alleged that the TCS let go of 78 per cent of its non-south Asian workers who were taken off job assignments, or "benched" from work, between 2011 and 2014, while only 22 per cent of benched south Asians were fired, even though they made up half of the company's US workforce.