Sun's Comedians

Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 3:03 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

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

Sun Microsystems needs to stop hiring so many comedians. I haven't laughed
so hard since last night's Jay Leno show. Check this one liner out:

"The salary is not based on employee status," she said. "The H-1Bs are
generally much more expensive than U.S. nationals," she said. "It is an
ongoing trail of paperwork."

http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/06/25/020625hnsunh1b.xml

June 25, 2002 01:19 PM

Sun says regulators look at layoff bias claim
By Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO (REUTERS) - Computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. said on
Monday the U.S. government was looking into claims by a former employee that
Sun had discriminated against U.S. citizens in favor of foreign workers on
temporary visas when it cut jobs late last year.

Sun, which makes high-end computers that manage corporate and Internet
computers, had not considered visa status when making the roughly 3,900 job
cuts announced last year, spokeswoman Diane Carlini said.

The investigation by federal authorities followed a complaint by former Sun
engineer Guy Santiglia, who was laid off in November after four months on
the job, Carlini said.

Santiglia alleged that Sun favored foreign workers holding long-term H-1B
visas to save money, she said.

Neither Santiglia nor the Department of Justice responded to requests for
comment. The Department of Labor declined to comment.

The U.S. Congress in 2000 temporarily raised the cap for H-1B visas, offered
to specialized workers, to 195,000 for 2001-2003 in a controversial move
hailed by Silicon Valley, which is desperate for engineers.

Sun said less than 5 percent of its employees were such visa holders,
recruited to fill crucial positions when U.S. candidates were scarce. Sun
last year began layoffs of 9 percent of its work force.

"We feel we have nothing to hide," said Carlini. The U.S. Justice and Labor
departments were looking into the matter to determine whether to launch a
formal hearing, as required by law, she said.

Carlini said the visa program was effective for Sun in attracting crucial
technical talent but that foreign workers were costly to support. She
declined to provide a comparison for U.S. and foreign workers' salaries.

"The salary is not based on employee status," she said. "The H-1Bs are
generally much more expensive than U.S. nationals," she said. "It is an
ongoing trail of paperwork."

"We use the program to fill critical jobs. We are looking for skills to stay
competitive, and if we find that employee and they require an H-1B visa
program, then we are set up to take care of that."

Santiglia had first made the claim of unfair treatment in an e-mail to Chief
Executive Scott McNealy and had since often come to the Sun campus in Santa
Clara, she said.

Copyright (c) 2000 Reuters Limited. Reuters content is the intellectual
property of Reuters Limited. For additional information on other Reuters
Services please visit the Reuters public web site -

Back to archives