The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is investigating claims from dozens of American workers who allege that Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS), India’s largest IT outsourcing firm, discriminated against them on the basis of race, age, and national origin.
Most of the complainants are professionals over the age of 40 from non-South Asian backgrounds. They claim TCS disproportionately targeted them for layoffs while retaining Indian employees, including many on H-1B skilled worker visas. The complaints began surfacing in late 2023.
“These allegations that TCS engages in unlawful discrimination are meritless and misleading,” a company spokesperson said. “TCS has a strong track record as an equal opportunity employer in the U.S., committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and values.”
An EEOC spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing probe, citing confidentiality requirements under federal law.
According to Bloomberg News, which reviewed over two dozen of the confidential complaints and spoke with sources familiar with the matter, the EEOC investigation began during President Biden’s administration and has continued into President Trump’s term.
The issue has also drawn attention in the United Kingdom. According to The Guardian, three former TCS employees filed a complaint with an employment tribunal in 2023, alleging they were subjected to age and nationality-based discrimination during a company-wide redundancy program. TCS has denied the accusations in its formal response to the tribunal.
In a previously unreported letter dated April 2024, U.S. Representative Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) urged the EEOC to open an investigation, citing that constituents from his state were among the complainants. In the letter addressed to EEOC commissioners and then-chair Charlotte Burrows, Moulton wrote that TCS’s conduct “may have constituted a pattern-or-practice of discrimination impacting Americans that falls within the EEOC’s jurisdiction.” He also raised concerns about possible misuse of U.S. work visa programs intended to address domestic labor shortages.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting workplace discrimination. In a notable precedent, the agency concluded in 2020 that another major outsourcing firm, Cognizant Technology Solutions, had discriminated against non-Indian employees in its U.S. operations. In a related class-action lawsuit, a jury in 2023 found that Cognizant had intentionally discriminated against over 2,000 non-Indian workers between 2013 and 2022. Cognizant has denied wrongdoing, stated it plans to appeal, and reaffirmed its commitment to equal employment opportunity.
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