Highlights
- As part of these meetings, partners allegedly expressed reluctance to hire additional consultants of Indian origin, women with children at home, and candidates over the age of 50.
- It said she “tried to change this culture within the first two months of her employment” in 2018 but was met with “resistance from Infosys partners – Jerry Kurtz and Dan Albright”.
Infosys, the Bengaluru-based IT giant, is facing a bias suit in a US court after a former executive, in a complaint, last year, accused the company of discrimination in its hiring process, based on age, gender, and nationality.
Allegations leveled against Infosys
Jill Prejean, a former Vice President of Talent Acquisition with Infosys, claimed she was asked to avoid hiring candidates of Indian origin, women with children, and candidates above 50 years of age, according to reports.
Prejean was hired in 2018 as a VP of talent acquisition and was 59 at the time. According to her suit, she had set up meetings with Infosys’s partners to learn about hiring needs and preferences. According to it, Prejean was hired to find and recruit “hard-to-find executives” to work as partners or VPs in the consulting division.
As part of these meetings, partners allegedly expressed reluctance to hire additional consultants of Indian origin, women with children at home, and candidates over the age of 50.
She made the shocking admission before the United States District Court for the southern district of New York. Prejean had filed the suit against the company, former executives of the company, and partners in September last year.
Former employee’s statement
Prejean’s statement, as per the reports, said she was “shocked to find a rampant culture of illegal discriminatory animus among the partner level executives based on age, gender, and caregiver status”.
It said she “tried to change this culture within the first two months of her employment” in 2018 but was met with “resistance from Infosys partners – Jerry Kurtz and Dan Albright”.
The IT giant filed a motion to dismiss the suit by the complainant, who also claimed she was terminated for not complying with the company’s alleged illegal demands in hiring senior executives.
Infosys sought the dismissal on the grounds that Ms. Prejean did not submit proof for the allegations. The court, however, rejected the motion and asked the company to submit a response within 21 days from the date of the order (September 30).
