Cognizant Green Card Filings Suspended In US Fraud Probe

WASHINGTON, DC – The US Department of Labor has suspended permanent labor certification filings by technology services giant Cognizant as federal authorities investigate alleged fraud and possible harm to American workers.

Cognizant is a US-based multinational company headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey. Founded in Chennai in 1994, the company continues to maintain a major workforce and operational presence there.

The action affects Cognizant’s filings under the Permanent Labor Certification program, commonly known as PERM, a key step for employers seeking employment-based green cards for foreign workers.

“Cognizant’s PERM filings are suspended,” Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said in a social media post.

“Threats to American workers will NOT be tolerated. Alongside @WHFraudTF, we’re following facts, fraud and finances. Handcuffs await,” he said.

D’Esposito said his office was working with Labor Department officials and the White House anti-fraud task force. His post did not disclose the specific allegations against Cognizant, the number of applications affected or how long the suspension would remain in force.

The inspector general separately announced that PERM filings by Cloudera had also been suspended.

“One more. @cloudera: PERM filings SUSPENDED,” he said.

The material released by the inspector general did not identify any criminal charges against either Cognizant or Cloudera, and did not include responses from the companies.

The action against Cognizant came a day after the company announced plans to expand its American workforce. Cognizant said it planned to hire 1,500 US college graduates and increase its Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator workforce to 15,000 people.

“We are hiring American graduates, standing up new American job categories for the AI era, and putting Cognizant’s capital and leadership behind a national coalition built to make sure this transition works for workers,” Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Ravi Kumar S said.

“We believe AI will create significantly more jobs than it displaces and shift greater value, wages and accountability to the frontlines of America’s workforce,” Kumar said.

Cognizant also said it had joined RAISE US, a bipartisan coalition focused on helping American workers move into the artificial intelligence economy. Its Synapse programme has trained more than one million people and aims to reach two million by 2030.

Under the PERM programme, the Labor Department must certify that qualified US workers are not available for a position and that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.

PERM certification is associated with permanent employment and employment-based green cards. It is separate from the H-1B programme, which allows eligible US employers to hire foreign professionals temporarily for specialty occupations. The suspension of PERM filings does not, by itself, establish that Cognizant’s H-1B petitions have also been suspended. (IANS)