A US jury ruled in favour of Tata Consultancy Services (TCSNSE 0.39 %), clearing the company of discriminating against local Americans, a ruling that could help other Indian IT companies that are facing similar lawsuits.
The case, the first discrimination suit against an Indian IT player to reach a jury, was being closely watched. An adverse result could have had knock-on effects on the sector.
After one day of deliberations, the nine-member jury came to a unanimous decision that TCS did not have a ‘pattern or practice’ of discriminating against non-South Asian workers as a result of their race or national origin, Law360 reported.
The law firm suing TCS, Kotchen & Low, argued that TCS fired 78% of its local workers benched between 2011 and 2014, while only 22% of benched South Asians were fired, even though they constituted half the company’s workforce in the country. TCS’ lawyers pointed out the company’s increased local hiring and that its retention rate of employees had increased.
The TCS case is just one of the many that Kotchen & Low is fighting against Indian IT companies. It has also sued Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra.
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