An Example of a EEOC Submission on Indian Discrimination

Executive Summary

• The EEOC receives many complaints about Indian discrimination.
• This is one example of a complaint filed with the EEOC.

Introduction

This complaint provides important background to the EEOC.

I provide some commentary below the quotation sections. This is not an exact replica of the complaint but has had a few areas removed, and commentary added to suit the website.

Introduction

Here are some example of rampant malpractice that is taking place in the recruitment industry and affecting many domestic jobless workers who have the right qualifications and experience conforming to the market demand. They are being denied job opportunity as explained below which is in a blatant breach of the prevailing laws pertaining to HR and Equal Opportunity Employment as well as an open abuse and circumvention of immigration processes.

The Experience of the Complaint Filer

An example is of an IT ERP systems expert who may have been working in this industry for more than 25 years. Based on the advertisements that I can see, there are more than 100 jobs relevant to this trade that may be vacant in North America at any time. However despite having good qualification and experience that commensurate with the market demand there are many domestic workers out of work for the longest of time. Ironically, the existing high demand in the area of their expertise is being filled by semi-skilled workers from South Asia who are supported by help desks back home to compensate for their incompetence and lack of experience.

It is widespread for more experienced resources to be discriminated against by far younger Indian resources. It is also widespread for Indians to not compete based on their own skills and knowledge but instead based upon the skills and knowledge they can tap into through their Indian network. Indians do not typically see anything unethical or unusual with faking experience on their resume and then relying on someone else who has experience back in India.

The Takeover of Low Grade Indian Recruiting

At an average, each individual would apply for at least 20-30 jobs a week to the relevant vacancies on popular job boards where job postings also provide an indication of a high degree of resume match and relevancy with the job description. Other than an automated email message acknowledging that the application has been received, most of the time one would get 2-3 responses via a computer generated message informing that the position has been closed.

Indians are experts at running intelligence gathering. Indian recruiters put out fake roles that are designed to capture resumes. The next step is for the recruiter to lock the domestic IT worker into a right to represent. This topic is further discussed in the complaint.

On occasions, if and when a call is received, it is from a recruiter company (most of the time based in India) they will asked for detailed information including Social Security No., Date of Birth, and Copy of Driving License and require the candidate to sign exclusivity statement which will then bar the person from applying directly with the end user client. From that point one, one is completely left in the dark because there is no way or a mechanism to confirm if that resume was ever submitted to the end user client. In case if it hasn’t been, one would have missed the opportunity and denied his/her right to be considered for the position. With so many rejections taken place, one can strongly assume that the person is a victim to nepotism, prejudice and bias that saturates the market and for that reason the candidate’s application rarely gets the required attention and consideration.

Indian recruiters do not want to place non-Indian candidates. They do want to block non-Indian candidates from being submitted through other non-Indian recruiters. The “right to represent” that Indians are so intent on getting from non-Indian candidates is really more of a “right to sit on” or “right to gaslight.” After it is obtained, there is no other need to contact the candidate.

Common Areas of Discrimination

Below are typical areas where candidates could have experienced a lack of fairness and impartiality. Also, there are links to public discussion forums that testify to the high degree of malpractice resulting in systemic discrimination. These are some facts that must be deeply investigated in the interest of domestic workers. The objective of this document is to give the interested and affected parties an insight into how this industry is organized and bring to light the rampant malpractices prevailing today that are in full breach of the equal opportunity law subjecting domestic workers to a never-ending and fruitless employment search. Since it is the mandate of the EEOC to address the situation like this matter, this should be given an independent review resulting in strict guidelines, regulations, and laws enacted to safeguard and protect the rights of the domestic workers to remedy the status quo. Candidate screening, trashing resumes, circumventing recruitment process. The very first step in a recruitment process is candidate screening. The problem stems from the fact that most of the recruitment/resourcing companies and large end-user clients in the USA and Canada, presumably to reduce their cost and maximize their profits, have outsourced candidate screening and shortlisting tasks to cheap labor offered by the offshore companies based in South Asia. That is where most of the rejection takes place. There are numerous discussions taking place on the internet by different discussion forums. Below is the link to some of those discussions that highlight the situation.

Quora on Bias

Is there Any Bias Among Indians Hiring Other Indian Workers in the IT Industry

H1B visa scams, Fake job advertisements, Resume harvesting

The USA government issues a yearly quota of H1B visas (65,000 for fiscal year 2019) to offset shortage of highly skilled IT personnel in the country. While trained IT personnel are available in many different countries and will avail themselves the opportunity to work in the USA, it may be noted that, almost 80% of the visas are taken away by the Indian nationals some of them using illegal means and circumventing the immigration process . Therefore, solely for the purpose of justifying H1B visa foreign companies advertise positions and then find a way to reject local candidates after few rounds of interviews. Please refer to the video link below that have been aired on Lou Dobbs program which shows the modus operandi pertaining to how fake jobs are advertised and candidates rejected to prove such skills are not locally available, ultimately to justify applications for H1B visa sponsorship (Here is a glaring example of how a law firm teaches ways to avoid Americans (or other candidates eligible to work in USA) and secure H1B visa for foreigners)

Indians Moving More Jobs to India Through Advisory Firms

Promoting Indian offshore companies business There are various large consulting companies in USA (PwC, Accenture, Deloitte, EY and KPMG) that offer IT advisory services to its customers who are mostly large multinational corporation.. They have an influx of staff from India who are working in “advisory role” in the IT field, They gather information pertaining market need and help corporation to devise long term computing strategies. At the same time, they help IT companies in their native country to solicit business and support its burgeoning software industry.

As the Indians have established a stronghold in the North American IT job market, they manipulate and create a situation in a such a way by indulging in practices that will maximize their share of the yearly H1B quota. A large presence of Indian employees in IT departments in USA/CANADA/European multinationals, ensures that those employees become catalyst in not only hiring nationals belonging to their home country but also promoting their country’s software industry. It is a general believed that, job applications from non-Indian rarely get past the initial stage in the hiring process.

Personal Information / Identity theft

On a number of occasions, recruiters from offshore companies ask for the last 4 digits of SSN and date of birth without the year. In addition to that, I have been asked for DOB and a copy of driver’s license. This is certainly illegal, breach of the privacy law that could have certainly lead to identity theft or open opportunity to any other illegal activities.

Conclusion

The candidate must be given the right to ask reason for rejection. There is growing need for some effective controls on basis of which recruitment process can be audited with emphasis on diversity and equal opportunity. Also, there is a need for lawyers specializing in “Fail to Hire” litigations to safeguard the rights of the domestic workers by subjecting companies to severe retribution in case of such infringement.

Laws need to be enacted that ensure diversity in the workplace or racial discrimination will remain to be the big white elephant in the room. Companies should be asked to provide a breakdown of the ethnic mix of their employees to support adherence to the diversity law. This is to prevent nepotism and bias in companies claiming to have employed large number of naturalized domestic workers, however with same ethnic background would have defeated the purpose of diversity laws. Hiring companies on their career page must provide a statement concerning:

1). Complete adherence and conformity to the EEOC law

2). Auditable controls that ensures implementation of fairness and impartiality in the hiring process.

3). First preference is given to domestic workers as a company policy.

Nothing in this complaint is new to Brightwork Research & Analysis. All of it is standard Indian behavior. It is occurring in every country where Indians have achieved a foothold, and as Indian immigration to countries increases, unless these countries wake up, and pressure regulatory bodies for protection, all of these discriminatory practices will continue.

The EEOC should come to understand that Indian discrimination is not just a situation of a “few bad apples” but is deeply rooted in Indian culture. If Indian companies are operating in the US or elsewhere, or an opportunity for Indians to exercise discriminatory behavior within a non-Indian company against Indians (and against an out-group, different caste, region, etc..) Indians — that discrimination will normally happen. This type of behavior is considered entirely standard in India.