Both lawsuits seek class-action status and both claim Walt Disney World, and outsourcing companies HCL and Cognizant colluded to get rid of US workers and replace them with temporary immigrant workers on H-1B visas. In hiring workers with H-1B visas, all USA companies must first assure the Department of Labor that their recruitment policies will in no way “adversely affect the working conditions of US workers similarly employed”.
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A furore over the layoffs in Orlando last January brought to light many other episodes in which American workers said they had lost jobs to foreigners on H-1B visas, and had to train replacements as a condition of their severance, the Times said.
Blackwell said Disney is not the only company using outsourcing firms to hire immigrants to replace American workers. Disney has not responded to the allegations.
Disney said it satisfy all applicable employment laws taking into account that hundreds of employers use H-1B visas.
Dena worked for the Disney for 10 years and told ABC Action News she’s still in shock and can’t believe she and others were fired and forced to train their replacements. Only 85,000 such visas are granted annually. Even American workers with “good performance reviews” were told they were going to train their replacements in their final days, but suddenly executives in Disney’s tech department reversed the decision.
Those employees who were laid off were encouraged to apply for other jobs at the company, but hardly any were re-hired.
“The program has created a highly lucrative business model of bringing in cheaper H-1B workers to substitute for Americans”, said Ronil Hira, a professor of public policy at Howard University who studies visa programs and has testified before Congress about H-1B visas.
Sara Blackwell, a lawyer in Sarasota representing the former Disney employees, said the suits charged that the companies lied under oath when they said that no Americans would lose their jobs, reported the Times. They feature Leo Perrero, one of the laid off Disney workers. “Disney is aware there are these requirements and Cognizant and HCL are lying”, Blackwell said.
Blackwell is representing, as well, some 30 former Disney IT workers who have filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over the loss of their jobs.
“These lawsuits are based on an unsustainable legal theory and are a wholesale misrepresentation of the facts”, Disney said in a statement. She said some companies will offer as much as $20,000.
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An email sent by The Associated Press seeking comment from HCL wasn’t immediately returned.
