The Department of Labor is investigating two outsourcing giants with ties to the Clinton Foundation for illegally supplanting American workers with cheap foreign labor.
The Department of Labor announced on Thursday it was investigating Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys for allegedly forcing American IT workers to train foreign workers before being laid off. Some of those employees allege that their employers replaced them with the immigrants who were in the country on temporary visas.
The Labor Department is investigating whether or not the companies abused the H-1B program, which grants temporary visas to fill highly-skilled jobs that employers claim are not adequately filled by American workers. The law requires that companies take "good faith steps to recruit U.S. workers" and "has not displaced a U.S. worker at the time of filing an H-1B visa petition," according to the department.
The investigation was announced on Thursday by a bipartisan group of senators.
"We’re pleased to hear that the Labor Department is taking a first step to stanch this tide of visa abuse," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) said in a joint statement. "A number of U.S. employers, including some large, well-known, publicly-traded corporations, have laid off thousands of American workers and replaced them with H-1B visa holders."
The two companies have been generous supporters of the Clinton Foundation, contributing between $35,000 and $50,000. Clinton’s ties extend beyond foundation donations. As a freshman senator from New York, Hillary Clinton praised TCS for setting up operations in upstate Buffalo, N.Y. When confronted by talk show host Lou Dobbs about the costs of outsourcing, she defended TCS for bringing 10 new jobs to New York State.
"They’ve actually brought jobs to Buffalo. Outsourcing does work both ways," she said. She later told Indian officials, "we are not against all outsourcing."
TCS and Infosys aren’t the only shady players in the Indian community with close ties to the Clinton family. She received thousands of dollars for her campaign from imprisoned former Goldman Sachs honcho Rajat Gupta. Gupta, a major player in one of the largest insider trading busts in history, hired Chelsea Clinton for a six-figure position upon her college graduation.
The Clinton campaign did not return request for comment.
An Infosys spokesman said the company would cooperate with the Labor Department and abides by U.S. immigration laws.
"Infosys is committed to complying with U.S. immigration laws. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regularly selects a percentage of visa and labor condition applications for extra scrutiny in this industry, and we work closely with the DOL to assist them in this activity in the ordinary course of our business," he said in an email.