New Delhi: Global software major Infosys on Wednesday said it reached an out-of-court settlement for $800,000 (Rs 5.7 crore) with the California Attorney General on charges related to the alleged violation of B-1 visa rules by it to its techies.
"Our agreement concludes the California Attorney General's investigation into the allegations related to the payment of state payroll taxes for some employees travelling on B-1 visas dating back to 2006," Infosys Company Secretary A.G.S. Manikantha said in a regulatory filing on the BSE.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said from Sacramento that Infosys would pay the western state $800,000 to resolve the charges that the Indian IT firm and its subsidiary (Infosys BPM Ltd) had employed about 500 techies in California on B-1 visas rather than H-1B visas between 2006 and 2017.
"This misclassification resulted in Infosys avoiding California payroll taxes such as unemployment insurance, disability insurance and employment training taxes. H-1B visas also require employers to pay workers at the local prevailing wage," said Becerra in a statement sourced by IANS here.
The settlement will result in the case being dismissed with prejudice and was reached to avoid time, expense and distraction of protracted litigation on the charges against the city-based IT behemoth.
"We dispute the allegations and admit to no wrong-doing in the case," asserted the $11-billion outsourcing firm.
