Submitted by Ali Law Group PC on
A federal judge in Orlando, Florida dismissed lawsuits by former Walt Disney Company employees claiming that Disney and the outsourcing firms it contracted with made false statements on certifications for H-1B temporary visas and conspired to violate visa laws.
H-1B visas are intended for foreigners with advanced science or computer skills to fill positions when American workers with comparable skills can’t be found. The plaintiffs, Leo Perrero and Dena Moore, were IT workers laid off by Disney and forced to train foreign replacements provided by two outsourcing companies, Cognizant Technology Solutions and HCL America.
Disney said the layoffs were part of a reorganization. It claimed that more positions were opened than were eliminated. The plaintiffs argued that Disney, Cognizant and HCL violated visa laws which require employers to show that hiring H-1B workers will not “adversely affect the wages and working conditions” of Americans. The Judge in this case determined that the outsourcing companies’ statements were not false, and would only have been false if the outsourcing firms’ own workers were adversely affected by the Visa program. The decision was a victory for Disney, however, the judge gave the former employees an opportunity to amend their complaints by Oct. 24.