BusinessToday article about Sun Discrimination

Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002 2:25 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

Get the Facts on H-1B at
www.ZaZona.com

In the last newsletter I scoffed at the statement that H-1Bs are just as
expensive as American employees. That statement is made here again. For Sun
that may be true as their legal costs soar and their stock plummets.

http://www.BusinessToday.com/business/technology/sun06252002.htm

U.S. is examining firings, Sun says: Preference for foreign workers charged

Bloomberg News
Tuesday, June 25, 2002

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Sun Microsystems Inc. (Chart) said the U.S. government
is examining a former employee's complaint that the server-computer maker
discriminated against U.S. citizens as it fired workers last year.

Units of the Justice and Labor departments asked Sun for information after
Guy Santiglia alleged that Sun favored foreign workers on H-1B visas, Sun
spokeswoman Diane Carlini said. The departments haven't started a formal
investigation, and Sun is cooperating with the requests, she said.

Santiglia had worked at Sun for four months and lost his job when the
company cut 3,900 people in October, its first-ever firings, Carlini said.

Santiglia couldn't immediately be reached to comment. The San Jose Mercury
News, which reported the complaint, quoted Santiglia as saying that Sun
fired U.S. citizens and kept foreign workers in the same jobs. The Justice
Department's civil rights unit has asked for the citizenship status of every
Sun employee before and after the firings, he told the paper.

Sun's Carlini wouldn't say what information has been requested. Justice
Department spokeswoman Casey Stavropoulos declined to comment on whether the
agency is conducting an investigation, and Labor Department spokeswoman Sue
Hensley said the agency can't comment on ongoing investigations.

Sun shares fell 3 cents, to $5.48, yesterday. They've lost 62 percent of
their value in the past year.

H-1B visas are issued for as long as six years to help companies find extra
workers when they say there aren't enough qualified U.S. employees to fill
jobs.

Computer-related companies from Sun to Intel Corp. (Chart) to Microsoft
Corp. (Chart) have lobbied to increase the number of visas available each
year. Critics say the program encourages companies to replace U.S. workers
with foreign nationals who will work longer hours for less money.

``We haven't done anything wrong,'' Carlini said. ``It's a touchy subject,
and we certainly don't want any misconceptions about use of H-1B visas.''

Sun doesn't save money by hiring workers with the visas and isn't bypassing
qualified U.S. employees, she said.

Companies and other groups in the United States sought 14 percent more visas
last year than in 2000, even amid a sliding economy and a surge in firings,
according to figures the Immigration and Naturalization Service released in
January.

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