The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is currently investigating complaints from several former American employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services company. The workers allege they were unfairly targeted for layoffs based on their age, race, and national origin.
According to a report by Bloomberg, many of the individuals involved in the investigation are over 40 years old and from non-South Asian backgrounds. They claim that while they were laid off, Indian staff — including those on H-1B work visas — were retained. The complaints reportedly began surfacing in late 2023.
TCS has strongly denied the accusations in a statement to the news outlet.
“Claims that TCS engages in discriminatory practices are unfounded and deceptive. We are committed to being an equal opportunity employer in the U.S., guided by our core values and ethical standards,” the company stated.
Similar allegations have also emerged in the UK, where three former TCS employees filed a case with an employment tribunal. They claim they were subjected to age and nationality-based discrimination during a redundancy process in 2023. TCS has denied the allegations in its response to the tribunal, according to The Guardian.
US Lawmaker Calls for Federal Probe
In April 2024, Democratic US Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts wrote to the EEOC, urging the agency to formally investigate TCS. According to Bloomberg, Moulton highlighted that several of the complainants were his constituents. He suggested that the company’s actions may represent a broader pattern of discrimination and raised concerns about potential misuse of U.S. work visa programs meant to address domestic talent shortages.
The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that prohibit workplace discrimination. In a similar case in 2020, the agency concluded that another major IT firm, Cognizant Technology Solutions, had discriminated against non-Indian employees in its US operations. A jury in a subsequent class-action lawsuit found that Cognizant had intentionally favored Indian workers between 2013 and 2022. The company denied the allegations, said it upholds equal opportunity employment, and has appealed the verdict.
Criticism has also stemmed from remarks made by TCS’s global head of human resources, Milind Lakkad. He allegedly told an Indian news outlet that the company was open to hiring Indian tech workers in the U.S. who had recently lost jobs at American firms. Lakkad also noted that approximately 70% of TCS’s workforce in the US were Americans — a figure the company aimed to reduce to 50% in order to accommodate employees from India
