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  1. #1
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    Firm in H-1B case looks to hire only U.S. workers

    I have read this article a coupla times and still cannot divine who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Does any member here have any more knowledge of this story? It seems to me they are paying out about $100,000 to each H-1B hire but they don't indicate what time frames are involved or any other details that might help make a little sense for the reader. This smells a little bit like another shakedown by the Labor Department but...
    It is interesting that they have been barred from the H-1B program for one year. Kinda reminds me of when I would get caught skipping school and subsequently suspended for a coupla days.



    Peri Software officials say the company's move to hire only U.S. workers for domestic offices is unrelated to its recent settlement of U.S. charges it violated H-1B visa rules.

    A Newark, N.J.-based software firm that settled an H-1B case brought against it by the U.S. Department of Labor told Computerworld this week that it has set a goal of hiring U.S. workers for all of its domestic positions.
    Under the settlement disclosed last week, Peri Software Solutions Inc. agreed to pay about $638,000 in back wages to 67 H-1B workers as part of a settlement of a U.S. Department of Labor.
    The company said that its plan to increase reliance on U.S. workers isn't the result of the settlement, but but was set because of business needs.
    "We want to have our company reflect the local demographics as it helps to serve the clients better." said George McQuade, a spokesman for Peri, in an e-mail response to questions from Computerworld. "This improves our business as we foster better relationships with clients. The service is better due to cultural similarities."
    McQuade also said with the increased use of U.S. workers, "we see marked improvement in client satisfaction, as well as client relationships."
    This appears to be a turnabout for Peri, which has relied heavily on H-1B visa workers in the U.S.
    The company says it has approximately 1,000 employees, including about 300 in the U.S., and others working in offices in India and China.
    The Labor Department announced in February that it was bringing an H-1B case against Peri, who the U.S. contended owed back wages to 163 workers. The case went before an administrative judge who reduced the size of the government's claim.
    Both sides subsequently agreed to the settlement, which was announced last week by the Labor Department. In addition paying back wages, Peri agreed to pay about $127,000 in civil penalties and to be debarred from participating in the H-1B program for one year, according to the consent decree.
    The civil penalties were issued because Peri failed to provide notice of the filing of Labor Condition Applications at each place where any H-1B worker was to be employed, and for filing lawsuits against H-1B workers for early cessation of employment. DOL regulations require an employer to inform U.S. workers of the intent to hire a foreign worker by posting the LCA notice in the workplace.
    In recent years, Peri gained government approval to hire nearly 190 H-1B workers -- 120 in 2007, 64 in 2008 and three in 2009, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services records.
    Peri says about 30 of its employees now hold H-1B visas.
    New Jersey has one of the higher concentrations of H-1B workers in the U.S., according a recent analysis of government data by Computerworld.
    In a statement , Nancy J. Leppink, deputy administrator of the Labor Dept.'s Wage and Hour Division, said that "Peri Software not only took advantage of these workers by not properly compensating them, it also violated the part of the law that provides the greatest protection to the American workforce.
    "When companies participating in the H-1B program do not post filed labor condition applications, they clearly undercut American workers who may be qualified for available employment but aren't aware of it," said Leppink.
    Peri was an H-1B dependent employer, a designation under which the Department of Labor imposes additional recruitment requirements . Companies designated an H-1B dependent employer meet certain thresholds, such as companies of 50 employees or more with at least 15% of the staff holding H-1B visas.
    Labor department rules state that "the H-1B employer is not required to recruit U.S. workers, unless it is H-1B-dependent."
    McQuade took exception to Leppink's statement, and called it a "gross misrepresentation or overstatement of the facts." He didn't dispute the facts of the case, just the editorializing over a consent decree that had simply outlined the terms of the agreement without comment.
    In October, Peri had said it had hired new legal counsel for immigration issues and installed a new management team "to oversee its hiring of H-1B workers."
    In a statement at the time , Sarav Periasamy, Peri president and CEO, said the company "is committed to exceeding whatever it takes to ensure that we are in full compliance."
    He also said that the company has "also launched a training program in an effort to boost the number of American employees. This will reduce offshore hiring and help Peri become a model for the industry nationally."
    McQuade said that the company's goal now "is to rely on U.S. workers 100%."
    The decision to hire U.S. workers "is not because of the consent order," said McQuade. "The whole strategy to hire all American workers has been in the works at Peri long before the DOL issues surfaced."
    And according to Periasamy, said McQuade, "it has been a challenge in finding engineers in America with the right skills for the last 10 years."
    The reason for hiring U.S. workers is pretty simple, said McQuade. "Obviously, the workers are happier, more productive when they work in their own country, can be closer to their own family and culture," he said. The company plans to boost its training in the U.S. as part of the effort.
    As part of the consent decree, Peri was barred from the H-1B program for one year. The existing H-1B workers at Peri can continue to work at the firm.
    Asked if it was the company's plan not to take on new H-1B workers after the debarment period ends, the spokesman said: "We will have to wait and see the conditions of the marketplace, what the technology challenges we face in developing new and maintaining existing software, hardware or other business solutions. And if American workers have the technical skills and qualifications needed to fill those positions, ideally American workers will have preference over H-1B visa applicants."
    Peri list a number of openings on its Web site, including business objects developer, SAP expertise, mainframe consultant, risk management associate, among others.

    http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=E4A4F5 ... 32E784DFC1
    No amnesty until the border is secured... then no amnesty.

  2. #2
    Senior Member artclam's Avatar
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    Where is job listing?

    Peri list a number of openings on its Web site, including business objects developer, SAP expertise, mainframe consultant, risk management associate, among others.
    I went to the Peri web site, http://www.perisoftware.com/index.html but couldn't find any listing of job openings. Is this just my problem? Can any of you folks find it?

  3. #3
    Senior Member artclam's Avatar
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    Found it

    There's an icon in the lower right labelled "CAREERS".

  4. #4
    Senior Member BetsyRoss's Avatar
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    The H-1B is a fraudulent and flawed guestworker visa program that allows staffing companies to replace American workers with foreign workers. It was supposed to be used only in cases of skill shortages, and only temporarily until an American can be found or developed for the job, but inadequate safeguards were written into the law and both foreign and multinational firms have used H-1Bs to replace Americans. Often the American worker is coerced to train his foreign replacement.

    H-1Bs are paid, on average, $20,000 less than their American counterparts and Indian CEOs have referred to it as the "outsourcing" visa because they use it to get on-the-job training for their people in preparation for eventually outsourcing the work. The wage stated in the job listing is usually not what the H-1B ends up getting paid. Also, many of their resumes are falsified, claiming experience and skill sets they don't have, just to get the work away from Americans.

    Sometimes gangland-style tactics are used against H-1Bs by foreign staffing firms based here, including threats of violence. Tata of India is undergoing a lawsuit, because they forced their Indian employees working in America to sign over their tax refunds to the company. I can go on and on, so let me sumarize: the H-1B (and the other guestworker visas) are responsible for a large share of today's intractable joblessness among qualified, formerly productive American white collar workers. They are here working and making bank, and we are receiving pink slips.

    Peri had it coming. Long time coming. And so do hundreds of other companies here, diverting work from white collar Americans.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  5. #5
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    Betsy,
    Thanks for that! I have to admit I know precious little about that whole business.
    No amnesty until the border is secured... then no amnesty.

  6. #6
    Senior Member vistalad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BetsyRoss
    The H-1B is a fraudulent and flawed guestworker visa program that allows staffing companies to replace American workers with foreign workers. It was supposed to be used only in cases of skill shortages, and only temporarily until an American can be found or developed for the job, but inadequate safeguards were written into the law and both foreign and multinational firms have used H-1Bs to replace Americans.

    Peri had it coming. Long time coming. And so do hundreds of other companies here, diverting work from white collar Americans.
    Look for the new Congress to address this issue. If we're active, Congress may also eliminate the possibility of using H1-B status as a pathway to citizenship. BTW doing that would actually give more foreign workers a shot at American wages and working conditions.
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  7. #7
    Senior Member BetsyRoss's Avatar
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    More good news: a while back a law was passed by Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand to raise H-1B visa fees to fund a border fence. India, Inc. screamed and sent lobbyists, but because the lawmakers were careful as to how they worded the law, it stood. Now another fee has been passed and is awaiting Obama's signature: to fund care for 9/11 victims. Again, India, Inc. is howling, but the law is carefully written, so keep your fingers crossed. Anything that raises the cost of using the visa tilts the economic equation back in favor of American workers. Over the last decade our salaries have gone down, theirs have gone up, and I'm seeing more and more articles about bringing back work to here. H-1Bs have been encouraged to think of themselves as immigrants, but they just aren't. There has been gross misuse of this and other visas for years now, but that may finally be starting to change.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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