Infosys employee ridiculed for celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving

Date: Sunday, December 06, 2009 2:32 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2082 -- 12/06/2009 >>>>>

There is a school of thought that maintains that non-Western peoples
are simply not capable of sustaining -- or assimilating to -- the
civilization of the West, that "East is East and West is West," as
Kipling put it, and never the twain shall meet.
Sam Francis, 2002

Francis correctly portrayed Kipling s realism about multiculturalism but
nobody can say that Promila Awasthi, an India-born American citizen, didn t
try to beat the odds to assimilate into our culture. Awatshi wanted to
celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas but was hassled by her bosses at the
Indian owned bodyshop Infosys. Awashti s bosses at the Freemont, California
branch of Infosys were Indian nationals who routinely ridiculed her and her
family for wanting to take part in those great American traditions.

The NBC Bay Area website gave the following account of the story:

Infosys management routinely disparaged Americans, including Mrs.
Awasthi, as not having "family values," and stated that layoffs
in America are good because the jobs will be outsourced.

Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi for celebrating the
American holiday of Thanksgiving, telling her that she should not
celebrate Thanksgiving because she is Indian, and that therefore
she must work on Thanksgiving Day.

Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi s children for
celebrating Thanksgiving, and called them "ABCD" short for
"American-Born Confused Desi," and "IBCD" short for "Indian-Born
Confused Desi," insulting terms used to criticize people of
Indian ancestry who are Americanized.

The India Herald revealed more details of the story:

The complaint alleges that while working at Infosys, Mrs.
Awasthi was routinely harassed by Infosys management,
nationals of India, on the basis of her being an
American of Indian ancestry and national origin, and on
the basis of her age and gender. For example, the
complaint alleges that:

Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi for celebrating
Thanksgiving, telling her that she should not celebrate
Thanksgiving because she is Indian, and that therefore
she must work on Thanksgiving Day.

Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi s children for
celebrating Thanksgiving, and called them "ABCD""short for
"American-Born Confused Desi," and "IBCD," short for
"Indian-Born Confused Desi," insulting terms used to
criticize people of Indian ancestry who are Americanized.

Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi for celebrating
Christmas, saying that "we" do not celebrate Christmas,
and that she should not celebrate Christmas. Infosys
management repeatedly discussed the quality of Mrs.
Awasthi's work by explicitly commenting on their
expectations for "a woman your age."

Awasthi is fighting for her right to be a fully assimilated American -- and to
get paid overtime if she is forced to work on those holidays, as required by
California state law. On Novermber 23 Awasthi filed a lawsuit in Alameda
County Superior Court against Infosys.

If you want to contact an Infosys USA spokesman to explain the meaning of
Thanksgiving and Christmas Email Peter McLaughlin at
Peter_McLaughlin@infosys.com.

REFERENCES:

blog version of newsletter:

http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2009/12/06/infosys-employee-ridiculed-for-celebrating-christmas-and-thanksgiving/

http://www.vdare.com/francis/myth_crumble1.htm
Abolishing The West: Immigrants Reject Assimilation, by Sam Francis 2002

http://www.infosys.com/pages/index.aspx
Infosys website

ARTICLES INCLUDED BELOW:

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/tech/Tech-Giant-Heads-to-Court-Over-Holiday-Teasing-78556042.html
Tech Giant Heads to Court Over Holiday Teasing

http://www.india-herald.com/print_this_story.asp?smenu=1&sdetail=2027
California resident sues Infosys

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/tech/Tech-Giant-Heads-to-Court-Over-Holiday-Teasing-78556042.html

Tech Giant Heads to Court Over Holiday Teasing American citizen fights for
right to celebrate holidays By SCOTT BUDMAN Updated 4:00 PM PST, Fri, Dec 4,
2009

ashwinkumar

Is it wrong for an American to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas?

Sounds like a crazy question, but it's actually at the center of a lawsuit
that's on its way to court.

Promila Awasthi is a US citizen, originally from India. She lives in Silicon
Valley, and worked for software giant Infosys at its Fremont, Calif. office in
2008.

When she was there, she claims, she was routinely teased by two of her
supervisors for celebrating American holidays. "Why, as an Indian, should you
be celebrating Thanksgiving?" she says she was asked. "You should not be
doing that," she was told.

Infosys is based in Bangalore, India. Its offices there and in nearby Mysore
are magnificent. This is truly a global company, making software that reaches
out to all corners of the world. It's famous not just for its consistent
growth, stock price and success, but for being a company that supposedly
transcends borders and cultures. But now it's facing serious charges that
strike at the heart of its vaunted ability to rise above cultural differences.

Awasthi, whose children are also Indian-born American citizens, says she was
also ridiculed when superiors found out that she and her family celebrate
Christmas. She was called "IBCD," short for "Indian-Born Confused Desi," a
term of insult used to criticize people from India who assimilate to certain
American ways.

But, as if that's not enough, Awasthi says some of her Infosys colleagues
criticized America in another way, one that would surely make the blood of Lou
Dobbs boil: When the America economy was going through its recent shudders,
causing massive layoffs across the US corporate landscape, Awasthi claims that
many at the company celebrated as the economy went south.

"Every time the layoff news comes, they're happy," she says. "They say this is
good for us, those jobs will be outsourced."

If this is true, Infosys has some workers who just may set the progress of
Indian-American business relations back years.

After nine months at Infosys, Awasthi said the pressure was too much, and she
resigned. She's now suing her former employer, alleging both workplace
harassment and failure to pay overtime (Awasthi says she's owed more than
$21,000 for working late nights and weekends).

She says she wants to be able to tell her children they should be proud to be
American citizens, proud to both work here, and proud to celebrate its
holidays.

Infosys did not respond to our email or phone requests for comment, but a
company spokesman did tell an Indian news website, "We are treating the
allegations seriously and will be initiating an internal review into this
matter."

The matter is due to be heard in court, in Oakland, on April 7.

It's another date for holiday-hating bosses to dread.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.india-herald.com/print_this_story.asp?smenu=1&sdetail=2027

California resident sues Infosys

-- 11/25/2009
Promila Awasthi, a U.S. citizen originally from India and of Indian ancestry,
a former employee of Infosys Technologies Limited ("Infosys"), Bangalore,
India, filed a lawsuit against Infosys in Alameda County Superior Court in
Oakland, California.

Awasthi s attorney, Steven G. Tidrick,of The Tidrick Law Firm, in a statement
said the lawsuit alleged that Infosys management routinely disparaged
Americans, including Mrs. Awasthi, 48, as not having "family values," and
stated that layoffs in America are good because the jobs will be outsourced.

The complaint alleges that Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi for
celebrating the American holiday of Thanksgiving, telling her that she should
not celebrate Thanksgiving because she is Indian, and that therefore she must
work on Thanksgiving Day.

According to the complaint, Mrs. Awasthi was employed at the Fremont,
California office of Infosys, where she performed computer work for Infosys
consisting of data warehousing tasks, and in addition to working regular
daytime hours, was also regularly on call for several hours at night to answer
phone calls from India, even past midnight, as well as on weekends, but was
not paid overtime as required by California law.

The complaint alleges that while working at Infosys, Mrs. Awasthi was
routinely harassed by Infosys management, nationals of India, on the basis of
her being an American of Indian ancestry and national origin, and on the basis
of her age and gender. For example, the complaint alleges that:

7 Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi for celebrating Thanksgiving,
telling her that she should not celebrate Thanksgiving because she is Indian,
and that therefore she must work on Thanksgiving Day.

7 Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi s children for celebrating
Thanksgiving, and called them "ABCD," short for "American-Born Confused Desi,"
and "IBCD," short for "Indian-Born Confused Desi," insulting terms used to
criticize people of Indian ancestry who are Americanized.

7 Infosys management ridiculed Mrs. Awasthi for celebrating Christmas, saying
that "we" do not celebrate Christmas, and that she should not celebrate
Christmas.

7 Infosys management repeatedly discussed the quality of Mrs. Awasthi s work
by explicitly commenting on their expectations for "a woman your age."

7 The working conditions were so intolerable that Mrs. Awasthi was eventually
forced to quit.

According to the complaint, Infosys describes itself as a company that
"delivers technology-enabled business solutions that help Global 2000
companies win in a Flat World," advertises itself as a "global leader in the

next generation of IT and consulting," touts that it "pioneered the Global

Delivery Model" that was a "force in the industry leading to the rise of
offshore outsourcing," and advertises with the slogan: "Get Flat World
business secrets from a flat world company."

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