Washington: The US Department of Labour has suspended permanent labour certification filings by technology services giant Cognizant as federal authorities investigate alleged fraud and possible harm to American workers.
It impacts the company’s filings under the Permanent Labour Certification programme, commonly known as PERM, which is a key step for employers seeking employment-based green cards for foreign workers.
“Cognizant’s PERM filings are suspended,” Labour Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said in a social media post.
“Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated. Alongside @WHFraudTF, we’re following facts, fraud and finances. Handcuffs await,” he said.
D’Esposito said his office was working with Labour Department officials and the White House anti-fraud task force. His post did not disclose the specific allegations against Cognizant, the number of applications affected or how long the suspension would remain in force.
The inspector general separately announced that PERM filings by Cloudera had also been suspended. “One more. @cloudera: PERM filings SUSPENDED,” he said.
The material released by the inspector general did not identify any criminal charges against either company. It also did not include a response from Cognizant or Cloudera.
The action came a day after Cognizant announced plans to expand its American workforce. The company said it planned to hire 1,500 US college graduates and increase its Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator workforce to 15,000 people.
“We are hiring American graduates, standing up new American job categories for the AI era, and putting Cognizant’s capital and leadership behind a national coalition built to make sure this transition works for workers,” Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Ravi Kumar S said.
“We believe AI will create significantly more jobs than it displaces and shift greater value, wages and accountability to the frontlines of America’s workforce,” Kumar said.
Cognizant also said it had joined RAISE US, a bipartisan coalition focused on helping American workers move into the artificial intelligence economy. The company’s Synapse programme has trained more than one million people and now aims to reach two million by 2030.
Under the PERM programme, the Labour Department must certify that qualified US workers are not available for a position and that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.
PERM certification is associated with permanent employment and employment-based green cards. It is separate from the H-1B programme, which permits eligible US employers to hire foreign professionals temporarily for speciality occupations. Suspension of PERM filings does not, by itself, establish that a company’s H-1B petitions have also been suspended.
Cognizant is a US-based multinational company. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, and listed on Nasdaq under the ticker CTSH. However, Cognizant was founded in Chennai, India, in 1994 and retains a major workforce and operational presence there.
(IANS)
