Good News For H1B Visa Holders: US Company Will Pay $1 Million In Back Wages; Will Indians Get Money?

An employment firm in the US has been ordered to pay USD 1.1 million to nearly 600 IT employees in the form of back wages for failing to pay them in the first place. Among these is a large number of Indian employees, who are H-1B visa holders.

An investigation was carried out on the employment firm, wherein it was detected that the employees weren’t paid.

To know how it all went down, read on!

Populus Group To Pay USD 1.1 Million to H-1B Employees

The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigated the matter and has reported the whole thing on its official website.

The organization is Populus Group, which is based in Troy, Michigan. Populus is an organization which offers employment services to those seeking employment and those looking to hire people as well.

Apparently, the company failed to pay H-1B visa employees when the worksites were down for holidays. The H-1B visa program allows US organizations to appoint foreign employees in their companies if there is a lack of the same in the country, or if technically sound employees are needed.

As much as 594 employees will be paid in the form of back wages, of which there are a large number of Indian H-1B visa holders as well. Populus Group has agreed to pay an amount of $1,145,256 to these employees.

US Department of Labor To The Rescue!

Wage and Hour District Director Timolin Mitchell in Detroit, Michigan said, “The intent of the H-1B foreign labor certification program is to help American companies find the highly skilled talent they need when they can prove that a shortage of U.S. workers exists.”

He also said, “The resolution of this case demonstrates our commitment to safeguard American jobs, level the playing field for law-abiding employers, and ensure no one is being paid less than they are legally owed.”

The US Department of Labor is effectively looking into any and every such matter and ensures that there is no injustice happening in the case of employees or employers equally. The laws that have been put in place are enforced to protect nonimmigrant and immigrant workers both.

Employers are required to attest to the Department that the H-1B nonimmigrant workers will be paid either equal to the other employees with the same experience and expertise or the ‘prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment’. The workers must be paid whichever is greater among the two criteria mentioned above.

Will Indians Receive Their Wages Back?

The official report does not mention any nationalities and amount that will be received by the employees has also not been declared.

However, it is a known fact that Indians have always been the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa, and 2018 has been a year where many of the interested H-1B candidates got approved for the visa. Reportedly, of the 419,637 H-1B visa holders, 309,986 are Indians.

Therefore, it is easy to conclude that among the 594 people that will receive the back wages, many of them will be Indians.