Desi Employer won't give H1 papers, pays peanuts HELP!

D

Desidog

New Member
Hello all viewers and friends,

Desidog say freindly bow wow to you all :)
I am having substantial difficulty with a desi consulting company. I am a computer scientist from India. I came to the U.S. from Japan in Oct. 2004. a desi consulatnt sponsored my H1 , and i got a job in a week (on my own) with a decent fortune 500 company. As per our agreement which is in writing , they started paying me peanuts. the pay is so dismal , if i told you; you would not be shocked, you'd be amused. I have all the current pay stubs etc. My h1 was approved in Oct. of 2004, but THEY KEPT these papers and i DO NOT even have a photocopy or any other details but i have seen these papers and am certain that i work legally on H1 status. the contract that i signed with them said that i must work with them for atleast 18 months or pay a huge ransom for breaking the contract. The 18 months are not over yet. :rolleyes:
The interesting part begins now. During lunch hour 2 weeks ago a recruiter approached me at the local subway and we got talking. VOILA! Competitor wants to hire me fulltime , will pay me a good (great from current situation) salary and treated me very well during the interview trip. Nice hotel, limo, lunch, sight seeing etc. Really cool.
I called the desi consultant company and asked for my papers. they told me to shut up (I am putting it politely here , read this as four letter words , you know what i mean).
they said that my contract is for 18 months and that i should not even think about changing jobs. that's being unfaithful etc. etc.... The new employer wants me to start working ASAP. They will transfer the h1 and more importantly treat me like a human being. I have the pay stubs, MASTERS DEGREE FROM INDIA, and my current job is fine (no threat), is there some way that i can get my h1 papers from them ? Can the new employer transfer my old h1 without the old approval papers ? I have the i 94 on my passport as i entered on an F2 (wife's dependent, who is a student ) status. the consultant is cheating me , i know but i want to do this without any trouble. Any ideas/suggestions would be helpful. :confused:

My question is... can I transfer the H1 in some way to my new employer? I wanna bite these consulting blood sucking leech companies ...

Kindly share your experiences/thoughts. PLEASE HELP ME, i'LL APPRECIATE IT.

Thanks
Desidog
 
Try FOIA

Hi,

I am not very sure if FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) will help here, but I think it should. I know many people on this forum have used this for their 140 and 485 information when their employer did not give them the same.

Do some research if you can use FOIA for getting H1B papers.

Good luck.
 
DesiDog,

Same to you (yelp! yelp!).

I believe you wont have any problem as long as you have recent pay stubs, 3 or more and a valid I-94. Screw them, seems like I had a similar problem and I filed a new H1, not a transfer. The only issue is quota (this one I am not sure), talk to your lawyer. If you are in minnesota, I can give you a pointer to a good (but greedy) german lawyer who did a similar one and can try yours.

A photocopy of that approval notice will work as well, and you can ask your employer that the DMV needs a copy, or even you are travelling in-country and you need a valid notice (if you can get away with this).

Once you join the new company, ask a friend to start a complaint to the state labor department on this issue, if ou wish. You can get some back pay, some old PTOs and some compensation out of court if you fight hard. Not bad!

best,
MinesotaDesi.

Usual legal disclaimer applies.
 
HI All,

I also have a similar problem.I started working with a desi consulting company in January of last year and got placed on a project. Now they are refusing to give me my papers unless i sign a non compete agreement with them saying that I will not work with the company where I have been placed. They have not explicitly said that but I am pretty sure that they do have the H1 (since the INS mailed out the Approval notice on November 7th and its been a month and a half since then). So my question is that will I be able to transfer my H1 without the i-797. I have done my bachelors degree from the US and the i-94 that I have is the one that was given to my when I came back from vacationing in India (as a student on an F1) from Jan 2003.

Thanks a lot in advance,

PQA
 
pqa,

Some food for thought :

Whats the big deal? I mean if you are sure that they will 'really' give you the 797 if you sign the non-compete, then sign the non-compte. Just make sure whether they have the guts to enforce the scare tactic.

Just sign the non-compete and if you get the offer from the client, negotiate for a flat payment with them and the client usually pays this if they need you and if this is a small amount.

Remember that there are thousands of clients, who cares if you join the current one or not.

You can always say that you are going to India for better prospects and the join the current client.

Remember, If you stayed on the bench (no-pay), and if they owe you some vacations, then you have some good right to reverse-scare them.

best,
minnesotaDesi

Usual disclaimer (legal mumbo-jumbo) applies.
 
Critical issue....frustrated desi company sueing for $33000+

Hi All, Can a company XXX sue me if I don't have any proof that I have given the notice, as I notified the employer by phone and which she also agreed at that point. Now they are sueing me for $33,592 for loss of profit.

1. Company XXX has not paid me on bench for 3 and half months in 4 and half month period.

2. Company XXX has taken $600 from me for the visa.

3. In the one month salary which Company XXX has paid me, deducted $400 towards h1b visa processing.

4. Company XXX did not send me LCA(Labor Condition application). But LCA (Form ETA 9035E) says that nonimmigrant should be paid either the minimum salary or the salary mentioned in the agreement which ever is higher.

5. Company XXX were disturbing me by asking legal fees after leaving the company and the amount was $1120

6. A collection agency was calling me on behalf of the Company XXX to collect money of $1414. When asked why? the answer is "for funeral charges".

7. I filed a case against Company XXX to stop this nuesense and won a wage claim case against them through "Texas Work Force commission". And the dicission was made favouring me and so the company XXX paid my wages.(I claimed only for my stay in texas which was 15 days, so total 30 days company XXX has paid me)

8. Company XXX made to use my personal laptop at the work space(Have email proof), did not support in relocation or accomodation.

9. Company XXX made stop payment on one of the salary check(Have the cancelled check)

10. I have the proof that I have sent the time sheets for the period I worked at the client site which earlier they told to Texas Workforce commission that I have not sent but the workforce did not belive them.

11....

I am planning to hire an attorney.
Please let me know your views and request you all to support me.


thanks in advance.
sskcar
 
sskcardb,

Replies in red.

Hi All, Can a company XXX sue me if I don't have any proof that I have given the notice, as I notified the employer by phone and which she also agreed at that point. Now they are sueing me for $33,592 for loss of profit.
Yes, they can. They even can sue you if the owner's dog is sick which might have arised because you shouted at the owner and owner forgot to get the dogs medication. Welcome to the sue happy world.

1. Company XXX has not paid me on bench for 3 and half months in 4 and half month period.
You can go to the state labor office and start a formal complaint, but they would require you to show some proof of effort. At the end they may be able to recover the cost and will fine max 10k (or some paltry amount) to the company so that the co can go ahead and do the same thing to the next available educated slave.

2. Company XXX has taken $600 from me for the visa.
If you have paid by check etc and if the check memo shows some logical description, then you can. The employer is not legally allowed to transfer the legal costs to you. Again state labor dept.

3. In the one month salary which Company XXX has paid me, deducted $400 towards h1b visa processing.
See above. Remember if there is any cash transaction just say goodbye, as there is no proof.

4. Company XXX did not send me LCA(Labor Condition application). But LCA (Form ETA 9035E) says that nonimmigrant should be paid either the minimum salary or the salary mentioned in the agreement which ever is higher.
Don't know if the company is supposed to provide the labor copy to employee or not, but some suckers also give you an appointment letter showing xxx$ but when they file, they file with a different number. In that case, I believe the appointment letter still rules, as this is the contract between you and the company.

5. Company XXX were disturbing me by asking legal fees after leaving the company and the amount was $1120
Send them a fax/certified mail asking either show proof or don't disturb, again get a lawyer to draft that. Again depends on your slavary agreement with the company.

6. A collection agency was calling me on behalf of the Company XXX to collect money of $1414. When asked why? the answer is "for funeral charges".
Holy Cow! Whose funeral? Did they mean yours? or the owner's moms? Any case start a paper communication, no calls to the collection agency, and then send them a validation mail (look in the credit card board) asking the proof of the above.

7. I filed a case against Company XXX to stop this nuesense and won a wage claim case against them through "Texas Work Force commission". And the dicission was made favouring me and so the company XXX paid my wages.(I claimed only for my stay in texas which was 15 days, so total 30 days company XXX has paid me)
I guess, as it seems that you have won a wrongdoing case against this company, you can take them to court for mental harrasnment. This is interesting, ask any greedy lawyer for 50/50 or 60/40 arrangement and show any/all proof that you may have. Remember this one does not have a upper limit and you can take the rascals to the washers if what you say is right and if you find a good greedy lawyer. Of course see if the company/owner has some good amount of cash in which case the lawyer may be interested. You can even retire with some pretty cash.

8. Company XXX made to use my personal laptop at the work space(Have email proof), did not support in relocation or accomodation.
This one tough, as this should be in your appointment letter whether they/you will pay for this. But in any case if you have paper trail that they say spend from your pocket and we will pay later, this will work. Again state labor board.

9. Company XXX made stop payment on one of the salary check(Have the cancelled check)
Ask them to pay for the cancellation fees, if any. Otherwise a no problem.

10. I have the proof that I have sent the time sheets for the period I worked at the client site which earlier they told to Texas Workforce commission that I have not sent but the workforce did not belive them.
Does not matter, they are required to pay you by law whether you were working, skydiving or conferencing with the devil.Only the workforce dept asks for some reasonable proof so that it does not become partial.
11....

I am planning to hire an attorney.

DO IT. IT SEEMS YOU HAVE SOME GOOD POINTS AND IF HANDLED CORRECTLY YOU CAN RETIRE, IF YOU CAN SHOW THE OWNER IS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE, THEN YOU CAN GET THE GUYS ASSETS. THIS IS USA, THE REST YOU KNOW.

FOR THOSE GUYS THAT MIGHT FEEL MY VIEWS ARE OBJECTIONABLE, NOTE THAT THE COMPANY/OWNER/CEO IS DOING NO LESS ETHICAL/MORAL THAT WHAT I SUGGEST. A BUSINESS CAN BE RUN TILL THE BORDERLINE OF THE LAW, AFTER THAT IT SHOULD BE MARKET UNLAWFUL/ILLEGAL AND SHOULD BE TREATED ACCORDINGLY.
 
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whats up dog?

ooops

Your company would have filed for your H1 through a law firm. Every law firm will have a file and a copy of the H1 they processed. Contact the law firm directly and ask them to give you a copy of YOUR H1.

And then file for your new H1 through your new company. Then fax a copy of your old H1 to your now old company. Add a cover page, stating the name of the person you deal with there and tell him to shut up (hmmm I mean go ahead and use the four letter word). If you want to get creative, you could also draw a middle finger.

good luck!
 
The employer must have definitely sent you the papers to get your H1B stamped right? The why would you give the papers back to them?

Anyways now that you have given back tell them that you need to go back to your country for some family reason and so you need your papers back for re-entry. Tell him its imperative for you to have them.
 
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