http://www.digitalmass.com/news/daily/03/21/backpay.html

Five Massachusetts firms ordered to pay back wages
Foreign workers were underpaid, Labor Dept. says

By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff, 3/21/2000

Five Massachusetts firms have been ordered to pay more than $172,000 in back wages to foreign computer professionals who were paid less than others in the field, the Labor Department said yesterday.


William Pickett, regional wage specialist for the Labor Department, said 59 computer consultants will receive a total of $172,323 in back wages because the companies that employed them violated laws governing the H-1B visa program, which permits skilled technical professionals to work in this country temporarily.


"The law says that a programmer or program analyst at a US company must be paid what everyone else in that category is paid or he must make the prevailing wage for that job, whichever is higher," Pickett said. "In this case, our investigators found that these people were receiving less."


The companies are Envitec Corp. of Westborough; Intergalactic Research and Development of South Yarmouth; M&R Consultants Corp. of Burlington; McDonnell Associates Inc. of Weymouth, and Summit International Inc. of Stoneham.


Ravi Ika, president of Envitec Corp., said in a statement yesterday that his company "has always endeavored to fully comply with the myriad regulations governing the use of foreign labor," and that the audit resulted in "an honest difference of opinion as to the definition and application of" the regulations. Ika said deductions made from some employees' paychecks for certain benefits were considered by the Labor Department to be reductions in wages.


Representatives of the four other firms could not be reached by telephone for comment yesterday.


The Labor Department said yesterday the workers should have been paid between $45,000 and $55,000, depending on the position and the level of skill. Instead, they were paid substantially less than others in the field.


At Intergalactic, for example, one computer consultant received $19,386 in back wages. The Labor Department said Envitec was required to pay 31 employees $63,189 in back wages, and M&R Consultants paid two employees with H-1B visas $17,193. McDonnell Associates has agreed to pay 21 employees more than $41,000 and a fifth firm, Summit International, has paid four employees a total of $31,555, the government said.


Labor Department officials said they were not sure how many years the workers had been employed by the firms.


Under the H-1B visa program, employers are allowed to recruit computer professionals from India, Asia, and other countries for work in the United States due to a severe shortage of skilled technical labor.


In 1995, 65,000 workers were permitted to enter the country. By 2002, the number of individuals entering the United States under such visas will have increased to 105,000, up from 95,000 in 1998, according to federal statistics.


In some cases, companies will sponsor visa holders for permanent residency. To protect US workers, however, the government requires that the employer conduct an extensive search for a US professional to fill the post before giving the vacancy to a foreign specialist.