Lawsuit Filed by IT Workers over H1B Visas

[kamik86]

Don't bid what you can't do...it's not the government's fault if companies routinely underbid to get work and then try to claim cost overruns to get paid what they should have asked for in the 1st place. Honestly, the best thing the government can do in contracts is to make them all fixed price with no changes (since that also drives up costs when the government changes requirements)...and then you bid honestly and you get an honest price. I have been on the side of evaluating government contracts and accepting them...and the 1st thing I looked at is IF the company could even theoretically do the work, not how much they asked for...if I had a Top Secret (TS)-needed contract and you had no current TS workers to fill the task, you were automatically out, since TS takes so long to get...and recruiting workers who have them is no faster...

Companies no longer feel the need to invest in themselves and their people vs paying everything out to stockholders - stopping H1B abuse would start to turn this around b/c it would force companies to start doing what they should already be doing...

Lol the government would never give a no changes contract... Most of our contracts change between the time we submit the proposal and they actually award it, nevermind during doing the work. Unfortunately most of the time (like my job) the government organization that is in charge of policy, the one that holds the money, and the one that will actually get the product are three different organizations that can't agree on what we should do.

The details of what my company has done for recruitment aren't known to me. I'm just one of the engineers with a team that is honestly half the size it should be. Which is actually impacting training since sometimes we have the money to send someone to train on something but we can't spare the person for the time to do the training.

As for how the contract got this way, we could manage to and have staffed up to the original base contract we got but it included alot of options for the gov to add more to it without having to rebid that work. I think management underestimated how many of those options the government would choose to excercise so early.

 

[Eoghann]

Lol the government would never give a no changes contract... Most of our contracts change between the time we submit the proposal and they actually award it, nevermind during doing the work. Unfortunately most of the time (like my job) the government organization that is in charge of policy, the one that holds the money, and the one that will actually get the product are three different organizations that can't agree on what we should do.

The details of what my company has done for recruitment aren't known to me. I'm just one of the engineers with a team that is honestly half the size it should be. Which is actually impacting training since sometimes we have the money to send someone to train on something but we can't spare the person for the time to do the training.

As for how the contract got this way, we could manage to and have staffed up to the original base contract we got but it included alot of options for the gov to add more to it without having to rebid that work. I think management underestimated how many of those options the government would choose to exercise so early.

It happens, a lot. There's a huge disconnect between the buying group and the technical group in many government organizations. So not only do you get a lot of after the fact changes, or work being shoved into a contract vehicle where it doesn't belong just because there's an available budget, but you also get mixed messages resulting in an inaccurate bid.

It's all very well to say just don't bid for stuff you can't do, but then you're either putting yourself out of business or forced to shed a whole load of workers. Solutions for this stuff are neither quick nor simple.

But none of it directly relates to H1B visas because you've got to be a US citizen to do this sort of work anyway.

 

[rwdavis2]

Don't bid what you can't do...it's not the government's fault if companies routinely underbid to get work and then try to claim cost overruns to get paid what they should have asked for in the 1st place. ....

Man I can relate to this. During the 80's government contractors regularly underbid contracts to get the work. They then either worked us all to death under un-meetable schedules or went back to the feds for the overruns. Usually both.

 

[JasonMouse]

It's possible the H1B's need a look at, but we're definitely not getting the whole story. IT workers, especially app developers are in high demand in the US. You cannot replace a team with H1B workers. You would end up with 5 people, probably just winding down the project is all. In any case, everyone who got laid off at Disney is probably making 20% more at their new company.

 

[rwdavis2]

It's possible the H1B's need a look at, but we're definitely not getting the whole story. IT workers, especially app developers are in high demand in the US. You cannot replace a team with H1B workers. You would end up with 5 people, probably just winding down the project is all. In any case, everyone who got laid off at Disney is probably making 20% more at their new company.

You are making a lot of assumptions. Some of the people that got laid off have reported having stellar performance reviews close to the time of the layoffs. I can't imagine the layoffs were anything but a cost cutting measure. You may be correct about making more elsewhere there. Disney does not pay very well. They always have open jobs recs for developers on their web site. I have to imagine it's due to salary. One of my colleagues here was offered a job in Imagineering and turned it down as the offer was the same as what he made here in Maryland. And the job was in Los Angeles. Essentially a pay cut.

 

[kamik86]

It's possible the H1B's need a look at, but we're definitely not getting the whole story. IT workers, especially app developers are in high demand in the US. You cannot replace a team with H1B workers. You would end up with 5 people, probably just winding down the project is all. In any case, everyone who got laid off at Disney is probably making 20% more at their new company.

I assumed many of the positions were more maintenance type... I have seen something somewhat similar done here, that when a project is almost at completion many of the top performers will be pulled off to do other things and replaced by fewer and much more junior workers, the idea being now they don't have to build something they really just have to keep it running. If something really bad happens well those more senior workers in our case weren't laid off and they just get stolen back for a few days to help.

If I remember right this happened shortly after FP+ and other major software changes happened at disney (which I assume came with some hardware server changes as well) So they might have figured that now that the project is done they don't need as highly paid workers and others could keep it running.

 

[circus4u]

Disney sued for replacing American workers with foreigners
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/25/tec....html?iid=ob_homepage_tech_pool&iid=obnetwork

 

[OKW Lover]

Disney sued for replacing American workers with foreigners

Love CNN's headline. Sorry, its not a crime to replace American workers with foreigners. It may not be the right thing to do, but its not illegal.

 

[Eoghann]

Love CNN's headline. Sorry, its not a crime to replace American workers with foreigners. It may not be the right thing to do, but its not illegal.

Yeah that seems like pandering to a certain mindset.

There may well be a case to answer. It seems shady if not actually illegal anyway. But the issue is not employing "foreigners".

 

[Madteaparty001]

I hope Disney loses, with all my heart. So many companies seem to lose sight of loyalty to the customers and the country that gave them the ability to thrive. My city has 3 local billionaire families and they give back so much to our community and it shows, business is booming, the real estate market is on a high, and crime is on the decline. When you stop investing in the people that keep you going you stop getting a return, but long term strategies seem to be old hat these days.

 

[Josh Hendy]

Love CNN's headline. Sorry, its not a crime to replace American workers with foreigners. It may not be the right thing to do, but its not illegal.

Is making false statements on an H1B visa application illegal?

 

[OKW Lover]

Is making false statements on an H1B visa application illegal?

I have no knowledge of the requirements for one of those visas but I would guess that false statements are illegal. Do you think that Disney hired workers who made false statements on their visa application?

 

[Josh Hendy]

I have no knowledge of the requirements for one of those visas but I would guess that false statements are illegal. Do you think that Disney hired workers who made false statements on their visa application?

No ... I think that if the laid-off workers' stories are accurate, Disney and the labor contracting company made false statements on the visa applications. The recipients of the H1Bs did not lie about the availability of US labor and the prevailing wage and benefit rates in the IT industry, the people who applied for the visas lied on their behalf.

 

[Eoghann]

No ... I think that if the laid-off workers' stories are accurate, Disney and the labor contracting company made false statements on the visa applications. The recipients of the H1Bs did not lie about the availability of US labor and the prevailing wage and benefit rates in the IT industry, the people who applied for the visas lied on their behalf.

In which case they may well have a case to answer. But it's not because they used foreign workers, it's because of dubious hiring and firing practices.

Perhaps its because I'm a naturalized citizen but I strongly dislike the mentality that repeatedly pervades these sorts of stories where "foreign" is used to imply something wrong.

 

[DryCreek]

I tend to agree that displacing American workers with H1B visa holders is just plain WRONG! Period.
So, all of you that are in agreement, what do YOU plan to show your displeasure?
I have made a commitment to use my power as a consumer to show my displeasure. No trip to either Disney property this year. No purchasing of Disney merchandise for gifts this year. We will not watch any shows on ABC (no cable, so none of their other franchisees either). I am also in the process of writing a letter to their corporate offices, for whatever good that may do. I have already previously divested all investments (direct and indirect) with the Disney Corporation as a protest against the inflated bonus and perks provided to Bob Iger during a declining year of performance.
What do you plan to do to support American workers at your favorite theme park(s)?