An H-1B visa holder from India has sued his US company, led by an Indian-origin CEO, for forced labor.
Amrutesh Vallabhaneni, an H-1B visa holder in the US, has brought a lawsuit against his employer, accusing the company of forced labor, labor trafficking and withholding visa documents, Breitbart News reported. Jay Palmer, Vallabhaneni’s consultant who prepared the lawsuit, said it is a Squid Game for Indian workers in the US job market, as the ultimate goal is to stay in America, surviving the exploitative culture, created by Indian CEOs. These Indian-origin CEOs import their “home-country caste discrimination politics” to their workplaces in the US, Palmer said. According to the report, Vallabhaneni studied in India, got an F-1 student visa and a loan to attend a US college in 2015. Then he got OPT (Optional Practical Training), worked at a New Jersey company and then in 2018 moved to the company that he sued. He moved to the company as they promised him H-1B. The lawsuit said that the company violated laws and asked Vallabhaneni to pay his own salary for a period of six months. They also did not pay Vallabhaneni the prevailing wage.But after all this, Vallabhaneni was not free to leave the company as they allegedly threatened to withdraw his H-1B if he did not comply with their requests. The company also promised a green card but continued to pressure Vallabhaneni to accept their terms and conditions; otherwise he would have to leave the US. “Despite being guaranteed a wage by the DOL, AV (Amrutesh Vallabhaneni) often barely had enough money for rent and living expenses for himself and his family. Because of the broken promises and inconsistent pay, his health insurance lapsed, he missed credit card payments, and he and his wife lacked access to needed healthcare. At one point, AV suffered a serious leg injury, but he couldn’t see a doctor,” the lawsuit said. The company extracted a huge amount of money from AV, forcing him to pay all the visa fees and keeping him on the hook. The report said Vallabhaneni is still working with the company as he waits for the Green Card.