Lawsuit Against HCL In US Over Terminating Indian Employee Based On Caste

A former employee of HCL US has filed a lawsuit against the IT major for unlawful termination based on his caste by his superior. This comes about a month after Cisco Systems Inc was accused of discriminating against an Indian-American employee and allowing him to be harassed by two managers based on his caste.

The lawsuit filed by the employee against HCL America alleges that Srinivas Chakravarty, a Kamma Naidu by caste, discriminated against the complainant as he is a Kapu Naidu.

The two castes' animosity against each other dates back to the riots in the 1980s in the Vijayawada region of Andhra Pradesh.

"Substantial motivating factors for … termination of employment were, without limitation, his ethnicity (including as it relates to caste), race, national origin, ancestry, religious creed and/or colour, and/or any such perceived characteristics, and/or his association with members of such protected classes, as well as his complaints about discrimination within the company," News18 quoted the lawsuit as saying.

According to the former employee, he had come to know that Chakravarty was terminated soon after the lawsuit was filed, However, he could not independently verify the same.

HCL Technologies, which is the parent company of HCL America, did not respond to queries about Chakravarty's termination. It also did not respond to queries about actions taken against two senior managers -- Vikas Soni and Prasanna Subramanian-- to whom Vikram complained.

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