US Senator's
Nine Questions

The nine questions asked by US Senators Charles Grassley and Richard Durbin to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) regarding their hiring practices, layoffs of American workers, and H-1B visa usage were as follows:

1. Why is TCS hiring foreign tech workers when hundreds of thousands of American tech workers have been laid off over the past few years?

2. Does TCS make a good faith effort to fill open positions with Americans before filing H-1B petitions? Explain in detail.

3. Does TCS hide H-1B recruitment ads by listing them separately from general hiring ads?

4. Has TCS displaced any American employees with H-1B employees?

5. Are your company's H-1B hires provided the same salary and benefits as your American workers with the same qualifications? Please provide specific details.

6. How many H-1B workers at TCS were recruited and hired at level one wages? How many of those workers are still working at level one wages?

7. Does TCS outsource any hiring to contractors or staffing firms that place H-1B workers within your organization?

8. Of the H-1B workers currently working at TCS, how many of those workers are directly employed and paid by TCS?

9. Of the H-1B petitions TCS received approval for in 2025, how many workers were outsourced to other companies and how many employees' salaries were paid by a firm other than TCS?

The senators noted their concerns about TCS laying off American employees (including nearly five dozen in its Jacksonville office alone) while simultaneously filing for thousands of H-1B visas. The inquiry was part of a broader questioning of several large companies over similar practices amidst a rise in unemployment in the American tech sector.

Source:
US Senators pose nine questions to TCS on hiring practices in America, H-1B approach

I asked Gemini the below question:

As a impartial investigator, let me know what should be the real behind the scene answers to the above questions?

Here is the set of answer with my comment as an ex-employee:

🧐 Behind the Scenes Answers to Senator Questions

1. Hiring Foreign Workers Amidst US Layoffs

• Senator Question: Why is TCS hiring foreign tech workers when hundreds of thousands of American tech workers have been laid off?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: Layoffs often target employees with legacy skills or those in internal, non-billable, or less profitable parts of the business. Conversely, H-1B hiring is focused on employees with niche, in-demand, or highly specialized skills needed for specific client projects, or for roles that can be filled at a significantly lower cost (Level I wages, see #6) than a comparable laid-off American worker. The company views the two pools of workers (laid-off Americans vs. H-1B candidates) as not fungible in terms of current project requirements or cost structure.
  
  My comment: This is to have more control over employees with less payment. Local employees will demand overtime when the H1B will be working like slaves with a fraction of the salary. H1B workers will share housing housing (sometimes illegally), cars and kitchen to manege their life with vely low salary and even after that they will save money and send it back to their home country. 

2. Good Faith Effort to Hire Americans

• Senator Question: Does TCS make a good faith effort to fill open positions with Americans before filing H-1B petitions?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: The company would state it is fully compliant with the legal requirement to recruit American workers. However, the reality is that for many IT consulting roles, especially those requiring specific combinations of technology and client experience, the firm prioritizes its internal bench of employees (many of whom are foreign nationals already employed globally) for transfer to the U.S. via the H-1B or L-1 visa. This ensures the required skill set is available immediately to service a client contract, which is a fundamental requirement of the IT services business model. The external recruiting process for Americans may be designed more for legal compliance than for genuinely prioritizing their hire for certain roles.
  
  My comment: Generally not until forced by the customer company. Sometime during take over a paroect from local employees TCS shows obligation and empathy by re-hiring the laid-off customer employees but that is for certain period only. As soon as the turbulance settles they bring more H1B to replace them.

3. Hiding Recruitment Ads

• Senator Question: Does TCS hide H-1B recruitment ads by listing them separately from general hiring ads?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: Companies are required by law to advertise H-1B positions to American workers to demonstrate the lack of available domestic talent. To achieve this compliance without attracting a large pool of competitive American applicants for lower-wage positions, job ads for H-1B roles are often placed in highly specific, obscure, or geographically limited venues that satisfy the legal requirement but receive minimal visibility.

My comment: There is no such thing in TCS in practical world. TCS knows many tricks and use them to deceive US government to bring their low-cost offshore people. 

4. Displacement of American Employees

• Senator Question: Has TCS displaced any American employees with H-1B employees?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: The company would deny displacement as defined by the most restrictive legal standards, which require an employer to avoid firing a US worker 90 days before or after an H-1B worker is hired into the exact same position. However, displacement often occurs through indirect means:

  • Reorganization: An American's role is eliminated, and a newly structured, lower-paying role is created for an H-1B worker to perform similar functions.

  • Cost: The American worker's higher salary makes them an expensive resource, leading to their termination, followed by the H-1B worker being hired at a lower wage to fulfill the client contract (cost arbitrage).

My comment: This happens every day. That is why they are laying off local people saying that there is no work but still are filing for new low-cost H1B resources.

5. Wage and Benefits Parity

• Senator Question: Are your company's H-1B hires provided the same salary and benefits as your American workers with the same qualifications?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: The company is legally required to pay the H-1B worker at least the "prevailing wage" for the area/occupation or the wage paid to similarly employed American workers, whichever is higher.

  • The reality is that "prevailing wage" for an entry-level worker (Level I or II) is often significantly lower than what a mid-career American professional would accept.

  • H-1B workers are paid the legal minimum, which may still be below the market rate for a truly comparable, experienced American worker.

  • Furthermore, H-1B workers often start at a lower salary and have limited leverage to negotiate higher raises over time, as their employment (and legal status) is tied directly to the sponsoring firm, leading to wage depression over time.

My comment: It never happened (may be exc ept very few exception) and will not happen soon. Check randomly the salary of few H1B and their probably replaced couner part in the same organization and you will get the shocking data. With much less knowledge and much low salary structure H1Bs are replacing senior more competent local resources every day. The companies that hire TCS as their prime vendor are doing so to save money even with compromized service. Recent canceled UK 1B contract is just an example of the diluted talent pool of TCS.

6. Level One Wages

• Senator Question: How many H-1B workers at TCS were recruited and hired at Level One wages? How many of those workers are still working at Level One wages?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: A significant portion of H-1B petitions by large IT services firms are filed at Level I wages (the 17th percentile of the prevailing wage). This is often explained by classifying the H-1B worker as a "trainee" or as having the "minimum required experience" for the role, even if they possess advanced degrees or prior experience. The company’s goal is to minimize labor costs. The proportion of H-1B workers remaining at Level I wages for extended periods (beyond 1-2 years) is a key indicator of potential wage abuse.

7. Use of Contractors/Staffing Firms

• Senator Question: Does TCS outsource any hiring to contractors or staffing firms that place H-1B workers within your organization?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: TCS primarily acts as its own direct sponsor for H-1B workers (which allows it greater control), but it also sometimes utilizes smaller sub-contracting firms to supply talent to client sites. This practice provides a buffer and flexibility, allowing the primary company (TCS) to distance itself from some of the lower-tier labor practices and legal risks associated with these smaller firms.

8. & 9. Direct Employment and Outsourcing

• Senator Questions: Of the H-1B workers, how many are directly employed/paid by TCS? How many were outsourced to other companies and paid by a firm other than TCS?

• Behind the Scenes Answer: The goal of the H-1B program for a global IT services firm is to place the worker at a client site to perform services for the client. The firm would state that all H-1B workers are directly employed and paid by TCS, as the H-1B petition requires this sponsorship. However, the core business function of these H-1B employees is to be "outsourced" to a third-party client (e.g., a bank, retailer, or manufacturer) where they are essentially performing the client's IT work under a contract managed by TCS. The H-1B program has been criticized for being utilized for this IT Staff Augmentation Model rather than solely for a company's internal, core product development.

The controversy highlights the tension between a company’s fiduciary duty to minimize costs and maximize profit for shareholders (often achieved through global labor arbitrage) and the stated intent of the H-1B visa program (to fill skill gaps without disadvantaging American workers).

The CEO of TCS recently commented on the increased scrutiny of their hiring practices and the H-1B visa issue in this video: TCS Vs US Senate: Will TCS' Mass H1-B Hiring Pattern Backfire?.