Posted by Pritesh Bodalia | Monday, January 26, 2009 | comments (0)
This is a response to the open letter sent by Iowa senator, Mr. Grassley
[http://grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=18922]
The first thing that came to mind was equal opportunity employment. The EOCC states that employers can not discriminate based on gender, race, nationality, origin, age, etc. which would fit exactly into this situation.
In the letter, Grassley suggests that American talent be given priority over H1-B class employees. In this case, equal employment rights might not come into play given the nature of the H1-B visa. The visa allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers that have the equivalent of a US bachelor's degree. Though the intent of the visa is for the cases where US talent is not available for the given position, the DOL does not mandate that the employer look locally before hiring abroad.
This puts us in an interesting situation... on one hand there's no requirement that American workers get preferential treatment but on the other hand, given the economic conditions, it makes sense to do that if the EOCC guidelines do not apply. In the eyes of the government, I would definitely go for the former but in the eyes of the employer, Microsoft in this case, it does NOT make sense to selectively lay off H1-B workers.
I say this because the company executes layoff based on strict methodology - either the person is part of a non contributive team or is performing poory. In the case of the non-contributive team, it does not make sense to keep American workers because it is the product unit that is not functional not the individual in question. Although employee reshuffling between teams is possible, it does not make sense given the relevant experience people already would have from being on their specific teams.
I'm sure Microsoft will have a response to this letter, but I think it will along the lines of 'yes we'll consider what you've said while making our decisions but our priority is the functioning of our business which drives the US economy anyways'. So suck on that Mr. Iowa senator.
PS. Iowa? Really? wtf
[http://grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=18922]
The first thing that came to mind was equal opportunity employment. The EOCC states that employers can not discriminate based on gender, race, nationality, origin, age, etc. which would fit exactly into this situation.
In the letter, Grassley suggests that American talent be given priority over H1-B class employees. In this case, equal employment rights might not come into play given the nature of the H1-B visa. The visa allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers that have the equivalent of a US bachelor's degree. Though the intent of the visa is for the cases where US talent is not available for the given position, the DOL does not mandate that the employer look locally before hiring abroad.
This puts us in an interesting situation... on one hand there's no requirement that American workers get preferential treatment but on the other hand, given the economic conditions, it makes sense to do that if the EOCC guidelines do not apply. In the eyes of the government, I would definitely go for the former but in the eyes of the employer, Microsoft in this case, it does NOT make sense to selectively lay off H1-B workers.
I say this because the company executes layoff based on strict methodology - either the person is part of a non contributive team or is performing poory. In the case of the non-contributive team, it does not make sense to keep American workers because it is the product unit that is not functional not the individual in question. Although employee reshuffling between teams is possible, it does not make sense given the relevant experience people already would have from being on their specific teams.
I'm sure Microsoft will have a response to this letter, but I think it will along the lines of 'yes we'll consider what you've said while making our decisions but our priority is the functioning of our business which drives the US economy anyways'. So suck on that Mr. Iowa senator.
PS. Iowa? Really? wtf
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