Another Lawsuit Against Sun Microsystems

Date: Thursday, January 16, 2003 11:36 AM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Sun Microsystems is in trouble again for replacing American workers with
H-1B.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E1113655,00.html

Denver Post

Sun Microsystems accused of job bias
By Tom McGhee
Denver Post Business Writer

Thursday, January 16, 2003 - A former Sun Microsystems employee has accused
the computer giant of firing American workers as part of a plot to run the
firm with cheaper, foreign labor.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun terminated more than 2,500 employees on the
basis of race and national origin in 2001, according to a suit filed by Gail
Matthews on Wednesday.

Sun had not been notified of the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver
and couldn't comment on its contents, a company spokesman said.

Matthews, 43, of Boulder, worked for Sun from 1989 until she was laid off in
2001. She said company managers believed they would save money by getting
rid of U.S. nationals.

"A common belief held by members of Sun's management team was that East
Indian visa holders would work longer hours for less money and were more
pliable than U.S. workers," the suit said.

By January 2001, when Sun employed approximately 26,000 employees in the
United States, roughly 20 percent of the workforce was East Indian, the suit
said.

Most were in America on H1-B visas that allowed them to work here, the suit
said. Companies help their foreign workers to get the visas.

Shortly before reducing its workforce in 2001, the company arbitrarily
classified a large number of non-East Indian employees as underperformers,
the suit said.

The classification resulted in some employees being earmarked for later
layoffs, the suit said.

Almost all of those laid off were U.S. nationals, according to the suit.

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