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Kiran Bedi inspired me to keep fighting, says Sona Shah

Shah, filed a lawsuit against software and services firm, ADP Wilco, after she was displaced by a H1-B foreign worker.

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NEW YORK: Sona Shah, filed a lawsuit against software and services firm, ADP Wilco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Automatic Data Processing Inc after she was displaced by a H1-B foreign worker.“This whole visa nonsense was the last thing on my mind,” Shah said. She sued ADP Wilco for discriminating against its employees based on their citizenship and immigration status.

Shah and a colleague, Kai Barrett, filed the lawsuit on behalf of US workers who are discriminated against in favour of foreigners and on behalf of foreign H1-B visa workers who are paid far below the prevailing wages enjoyed by Americans. While Shah is a US citizen, Barrett is a British citizen who was transferred from Wilco’s London office to work in New York on an H1-B visa.

A year ago, Shah also urged US Senator Bill Pascrell to take legislative action against companies that abuse H1-B visa programmes. The result is the “Defend the American Dream Act of 2004” which Shah has co-written. She talks to DNA about her bill and lawsuit.

You have been fighting for the last seven years. When do think you will get a verdict?

Most civil lawsuits take 8 to 15 years. We took our first legal step in June 1998 and it has already been a seven-year bloody battle. The positive thing right now is that a number of people have signed up. The expected class size is 2,000 and they are all Wilco employees. Our lawsuit is like the Lois Jensen case that changed sexual harassment law. When Lois Jenson was fighting the nation’s first-ever class action lawsuit for sexual harassment she was fighting not only a lawsuit but a societal attitude that men will be men and boys will be boys. In the same way, Kai and I are fighting a societal attitude that Americans will be displaced by foreign employees who will be underpaid. That is life and we should accept it.

Since you are unhappy with the H1-B visa program, is it fair to say that you feel Indian workers are eating into American jobs?

Being pro-H1-B visa does not mean being pro-Indian. The treatment of both foreign and US workers must improve. Under the current scenario being pro-H1-B just means being pro-corporate America. My cousin from India came on a H1-B visa and he was treated horribly. I don’t know of any H1-B workers that are happy to come to the US with the understanding that they will be underpaid. Employers tend to mistreat their H1-B workers because they are a captive workforce. Visa restrictions turn them into indentured slaves.

Has the legal battle taken its toll on you?

I had lost a lot of weight and my eating habits had gone south because I was so stressed. Everything we did was touched by the lawsuit. That is why my boyfriend Kai and I decided to put off getting married till we had wrapped up the case. In 2004, I met Dr Kiran Bedi when she had come to the Himalayan Institute of Pennsylvania to give a self-awareness lecture. I told her the legal battle had really been a mountain to climb. She explained to me that it was my dharma to do the right thing for the right reasons. I asked her how she kept her sense of humour during hard times and she answered by asking “How do you not?” It has been a tough road but I would still do it all over again.

You have drafted a bill to overhaul the visa programme along with Senator Bill Pascrell. How long will it take to become law?

The next step is to find co-sponsors. Once it is vetted by select committees and gets critical mass it goes for a Congressional vote. It might take years as the bill has many implications.

What are some of the highlights of the bill? 

The legislation provides for key reforms. It requires employers of H1-B visa holders to pay the prevailing minimum wages. It also seeks amendments to ensure the Department of Labour has power to investigate wage complaints as well as fraud. It should audit employers and investigate potential abuses of the H1-B program. In my mind, the most important aspect of the bill is that it allows employees to bring private lawsuits to claim mistreatment.

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