While the CRD has voluntarily sought the dismissal of the case towards the 2 Indian-American workers of Cisco, it’s nonetheless processing the case towards the US-based tech firm. The purpose for the CRD’s transfer wasn’t instantly identified.
The two Cisco supervisors, Sundar Iyer and Ramana Kompella, have been accused within the division’s lawsuit of discriminating and harassing an worker, who belonged to the Dalit group, on the premise of caste.
The Santa Clara Superior County Court dismissed the case on April 10.
A couple of months in the past, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) had filed a petition in the identical courtroom, asserting that CRD’s case towards Cisco and the engineers infringed on the civil rights of Hindus dwelling in California. Due to the stigma and potential threats of violence related to an individual’s standing as Dalit, CRD requested that the worker be recognized by the placeholder identify “John Doe”.
“Two Indian-Americans endured a nearly three-year nightmare of unending investigations, a brutal online witch hunt, and a presumption of guilt in the media after the CRD sullied their reputation alleging that they engaged in discrimination based on caste,” HAF govt director Suhag Shukla mentioned in an announcement.
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According to the HAF, courtroom information confirmed that Iyer, the CEO of a division on the firm, was accused of harassment on the premise of caste regardless of proof that he actively recruited the complainant. Iyer additionally employed not less than one different self-identified Dalit who held one of many solely three management positions within the division. This particular person was supplied the opposite two management positions as effectively, previous to Doe submitting his discrimination criticism.“Court filings clearly indicate that CRD was aware of the diversity within the division and despite over eight years of Doe’s employment, CRD was unable to allege anything against Iyer or Kompella that legally or factually constituted harassment,” mentioned the HAF assertion.
On October 16, 2020, the division filed a lawsuit underneath the California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act towards Cisco and the 2 managers for caste-based discrimination, harassment and retaliation. The lawsuit alleged the defendants discriminated towards an engineer at Cisco’s San Jose campus as a result of he was Dalit.
In a social media publish, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, govt director of US-based Dalit civil rights organisation Equality Labs, mentioned: “The Cisco case has given so many Dalits the courage to come forward with their stories about caste discrimination in education, the medical and tech industries.”
The lawsuit towards Cisco will go to mediation on May 2. It accuses the tech large of allowing caste-based discrimination and making a hostile office. Since the case was filed, Cisco has launched caste to its FY22 ‘Code of Business Conduct’, prohibiting conduct that singles out an worker or a bunch of workers in a detrimental manner primarily based on traits “that have been the basis for historical marginalisation”.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com