A Silicon Valley company has been fined more than $43,000 in back wages and penalties. The company was directed to cough up the fine after labor regulators found that eight Indian employees from India and assigned to a special project in the US. They were grossly underpaid and overworked during the assignment.
The U.S Department of Labor probed and finally uncovered several violations at EFI (Electronics for Imaging Inc.). EFI is a printing technology firm with a reported revenue of a whopping $728 million in 2013. The profits were made during the period of the misconduct.
Electronics for Imaging had reportedly paid eight employees from India just $1.21 (Approx Rs 73) per hour instead of the standard California's required minimum wage. California’s minimum wages are $8 per hour (Approx Rs 480), as a compulsion to every employee, irrespective of the country they originate from.
The Indian workers were helping the company move its headquarters from Foster City, California, to Fremont, California. It was during this three-month assignment period that the Labor Department has found the misconduct with EFI.
It was also reported that the project required the Indian workers to put in as many as 122 hours in a week, and they were also not being paid overtime dues. In all, they had received as little as $1.21 per hour.
Electronics for Imaging claimed in defence that they "unintentionally overlooked" the US laws, which required foreign workers to be paid the same least minimum wage, with overtime for more than 40 hours a week, on the job.
The company gave the Indian workers unspecified bonuses. They were also payed the same wages that they normally earned during their normal jobs in Bangalore, back in India. The workers were allegedly even paid in Rupees while still working in the US
Michael Eastwood, a Department of Labor assistant district director, said that the abuses at Electronics for Imaging were among the most outrageous he had ever seen — even worse than problems he had seen at garment factories in southern California.
"This is worse than anything that I ever saw in any of those Los Angeles sweatshops," Eastwood said Thursday.
The Electronics for Imaging case serves as a reminder of the economic divide between high-tech workforces in the US and less-developed countries. While engineers and other technology employees are paid more than $100,000 salaries and lucrative stock incentives, workers handling other jobs for the same employer often receive paltry pay if they are based in countries such as India, China and Mexico.
Although it is not among Silicon Valley's high-profile companies, Electronics for Imaging is successful. The company earned $109 million last year and awarded CEO Guy Gecht with a pay package valued at nearly $6 million, including more than $1.2 million in salary and bonuses.
Electronics for Imaging is paying more than $40,000 in back wages and damages to the eight Indian workers and an additional $3,520 fine.
