Blow for TCS as wage suit gets class-action status

Employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) sent by the company to work in the US have won a judge’s permission to sue the company as a group over a wage dispute.

US district judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California, on Monday issued the class certification for all non-US citizens employed by Tata in California between February 14, 2002 and June 30, 2005.

The workers are also suing Tata Sons, the holding company for the salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, India’s biggest corporate house.

TCS put out a calibrated response, saying, “This is an order only on one procedural matter and does not address the merits of this case.”

“TCS continues to believe that when this matter concludes, the court will find that the plaintiff’s claims are without any merit,” Michael McCabe, a spokesman for Tata, said in an e-mailed statement.

Two former employees have accused the company in 2006 of forcing all non-US-citizen workers to sign over their US federal and state tax refund cheques to the company.

Tata also deducted their Indian wages from their compensation, the suit alleged.

The employees have accused TCS, Asia’s largest software-services provider, of breaching employee contracts and violating California labour laws.

The judge authorised one national class of plaintiffs, comprising non-US citizens who worked at the company between 2002 and 2005, to sue for contract violations.

The court certified a separate class of employees to bring claims under California labour laws.

“Many class members fear retaliation from defendants if they file individual suits,” the judge cited the employees as saying in her order. “Many class members currently reside in India, which would pose substantial barriers to bringing individual actions.”

The ruling means the employees met requirements to sue as a group, including common issues in the lawsuit. The group still must prove their claims at trial.

“More than 10,000 current and former Indian nationals working for Tata in America now may have their day in court,” Kelly Dermody, a lead attorney for the employees, said in a statement.

TCS, whose roughly 227,000 employees serve customers such as Citigroup and BP Plc, earned 45% of its December-quarter revenue from work done at clients’ own facilities, the company has said.