Former employee sues Infosys for discriminatory hiring practices in US
IT major Infosys is being sued by a former senior employee, VP of talent acquisition Jill Prejean, for discrimination on the basis of age, gender and ethnicity while hiring in the US.
The suit filed by Prejean alleged the company discriminated and retaliated against her when she tried to point out their discriminatory actions.
Motion to dismiss the claims
A judge from the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York rejected Infosys’ motion to dismiss the claims made by Prejean. The court has in turn asked the defendants to file their response to the allegations within the next 21 days.
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The case has been filed against Infosys, senior VP and head of consulting Mark Livingston and Prejean’s former partners Dan Albright and Jerry Kurtz.
The allegations
As per allegations, Livingston and other partners told Prejean not to hire consultants of Indian origin, women with ‘children at home’ and candidates over or nearing 50 years of age.
Prejean said she was hired by Infosys back in 2018, at 59 years of age. As part of acclimatizing herself to the new position of VP of Talent Acquisition, she set up a meeting with Infosys’s partners to learn their hiring needs and preferences.
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Prejean said, “In these meetings, the partners allegedly expressed their reluctance to hire additional consultants of Indian origin, women with children at home, and candidates over 50 years of age.”
Prejean expressed her disapproval of the set criteria, called it illegal and discriminatory, following which, many partners agreed not to use the criteria.
According to Prejean’s petition, Kurtz and Albright took Prejean’s refusal to screen applicants as the beginning of a battle for control.
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Livingstone too responded by becoming angry and disturbed. He threatened to remove Prejean from her position if she did not capitulate.
Prejean alleged that she continued to endure harassment, hostility, and pressure from Livingston, Kurtz and Albright during the subsequent months as part of a “pressure campaign” to persuade her to discriminate when recruiting Infosys employees.
