Relief for Infosys as U.S. visa case dismissed

Relief for Infosys as U.S. visa case dismissed

(Reuters) - Infosys shares rose on Tuesday after a U.S court dismissed harassment charges filed by a U.S. employee, providing a win for the company in its biggest market. A second, similar, lawsuit remains.

In the dismissed lawsuit, Jack Palmer, an Infosys employee in the United States said he was retaliated against by the company after pointing out what he said was the misuse of U.S. B1 visas.

Infosys shares rose as much as 3.7 percent to a six-week high, and were up 2.7 percent at 10:35 a.m.

The "decision is a short-term positive," Wells Fargo senior analyst Edward S. Caso wrote in a note to clients after the verdict.

In a U.S. election year, employment visas have come under intense scrutiny. Corporations including Indian outsourcing providers use thousands of visas to bring in employees mainly from India, a practice seen by some as hurting the American job market.

The U.S. judge's decision confirmed that Jack Palmer's claims were "completely unfounded", Infosys said in a statement.

However, Caso said the issue remained unresolved as a second similar case and a separate investigation of Infosys' use of visas were pending.

Satya Dev Tripuraneni, an American ex-employee, said he was harassed by his supervisor after he accused Infosys of visa fraud, according to a lawsuit filed on August 2 in the federal court for the Northern District of California.

Infosys has said it is investigating Tripuraneni's complaint.

In May, Infosys said it and some of its employees had been named in an investigation by a grand jury of the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The investigation is looking into the company's use of various visas. Infosys has said it is cooperating with the investigation.