A US judge denies Infosys’ request to dismiss a former executive’s claim of a “culture of prejudice”

An executive who filed a case against Infosys and some of its top employees last year accusing them of discriminatory bias in hiring based on age, gender, and caregiver status had his or her claims against Infosys dismissed by a US court. As vice president of talent acquisition at Infosys, Jill Prejean, a specialist in hiring executives at the vice president and partner levels, said she was told to avoid employing people of Indian descent, women with young children at home, and those over 50.

According to court records accessed by, the judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected Infosys and other parties’ arguments for the dismissal of the lawsuit and ordered the defendants to submit their response within 21 days of the order’s date, which was September 30. Infosys and its executives had asked for the dismissal on the basis that, among other things, the former executive had not highlighted certain statements as proof and that there was no jurisdiction.

The complainant claimed in her case filed in September 2021 that Prejean’s prejudices violated the human rights laws of New York City and cost her her employment as a result of her opposition to these practices. Prejean’s complaint states that during her first two months of employment, she “tried to change this culture,” but encountered “resistance from Infosys partners, Jerry Kurtz and Dan Albright, who became hostile in the face of her objections and tried to circumvent her authority to evade compliance with the law.”

Prejean was employed by the corporation in 2018 at the age of 59 to recruit employees for its $1 billion consulting sector, according to what she had previously stated. At least a dozen Infosys partners or executives regularly advised Prejean that they preferred not to employ more consultants of Indian national origin, sought women without children at home, and applicants not yet in their fifties.

She said in the document that when a new boss, Mark Livingston, the head of the consulting business, was appointed, he made comparable requests. Prejean was warned that if she didn’t comply with them, she may lose her job and the demands might be outsourced. She further claimed that because of her gender, the executives consistently treated her with disdain, intimidated her, and harassed her.

Prejean was fired shortly after complaining to human resources about Livingston; in her opinion, this action was unrelated to her work performance or any pressing business needs. According to Prejean’s lawsuit, her firing was caused by her refusal to breach the law and report Livingston’s discriminatory actions. She has asserted that the corporation and its officials’ alleged illegal actions caused her to suffer from severe financial loss, emotional pain, embarrassment, sleeplessness, anxiety, and melancholy.

The complaint

Mark Livingston, a former Infosys SVP and head of consulting, together with former business partners Jerry Kurtz and Dan Albright, will be the targets of Prejean’s legal action. Livingston departed Infosys this year in July. He worked for the company for over four years. Prejean, who is 59 years old, was appointed vice president of talent acquisition in 2018. She had said that in order to settle into her new position, she had scheduled meetings with Infosys’ business partners to find out more about their hiring standards and preferences. According to reports, she was told not to recruit consultants of Indian ancestry, women who had “children at home,” or candidates who were 50 years of age or older.

After Prejean informed him that these demands were illegal, Livingston is alleged to have responded by becoming “disturbed and furious.” Additionally, he allegedly threatened to dismiss her if she resisted. Prejean has also claimed that Livingston, Kurtz, and Albright engaged in a “pressure campaign” to urge her to discriminate while hiring Infosys workers, which included harassment, antagonism, and coercion.

The Infosys case re-emphasizes the problem of prejudice in the IT sector.

Infosys has been named in yet another legal dispute. This time, the IT business was sued for age and sex discrimination in the US by the firm’s former vice president of talent acquisition, Jill Prejean. She claims that the IT business mistreated her and retaliated against her because she refused to participate in a “pressure campaign” designed to induce discrimination. It is hardly breaking news that there is prejudice in the IT sector. Employees have frequently complained about being denied employment due to their age, and women have experienced discrimination according to their gender, age, or if they have children.

Five former Wipro workers who are based in the US filed a class action lawsuit in March, alleging “discriminatory hiring practices” based on race and nationality. A former Google employee filed a lawsuit against the internet company for racial discrimination in the same month, alleging that it had a “pattern and practice” of treating its Black employees unfairly. A separate age-discrimination class action lawsuit brought by more than 200 job candidates over the age of 40 who were turned down for employment was settled by Google in 2019 for $11 million. 2015 saw lawsuits brought against computer giant Microsoft for discrimination based on nationality and gender.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma