chanlal (project leader) 05 August 2010

H1B Employment Agreement

Hi My name is Chamraj from India, obtained a h1b from a new jersy based company in Dec 2007.

I was asked to give a indian bank guarantee of 100 thousand INR, so i have given them a BG of 100 thousand INR.

During last 30 months i was asked to renew my BG twice and i did the same and gave them the renewed copies. But they never bothered to send me to us on h1b.

BG got expired on last month and now they want me to travel to US immdly.

If i do not travel to USA before Aug 15 2010, they were asking me to pay 4000 USD as the expenses incurred to process my h1b visa. They also want to take legal action against me.

I have waited for 2,5 years waiting for them to send me to us. they did not send me during last 2.5 years,

Extract from Agreement: :If the employee terminates the agreement prior to the minimum period of 18 months, the employee will pay company liquidated charges of 4000 USD.

I am still in India and i was not paid single penny by the company so far. I waited for more than 18 months and now already 30 months over.

Pls advice how i can face his legal action. Can he take a legal against me when i am india where the offer is subject to laws of New Jersy state laws.

1.Can he take legal action to pay liquidated charges as mentioned in the agreement?
2.Can New Jersy laws applicable in India to send a legal notice to me?
3. Shall I be called an Employee of that company who processed my H1B as i am still in india and he did not pay me any single dollar so far.
4. Can I take any legal action against him as he did not send me to USA?

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3 Replies

HANUMANT DESHMUKH (Activist) 05 August 2010

There are several things involved here, so let me answer your questions in a brief manner:

1. Anybody can take any legal action. The h1b company can also try to file a lawsuit for breach of contract. There is a lot of reasoning involved, which is too much to write here, but, in my opinion, the outcome can only be in your favor. The company does not have any strong ground. So don't worry about them taking any legal options.

2. NJ laws may not be directly applicable here in India. But Indian laws are sufficient in this case because you signed a contract here. Even if you finally go to US through some other company, you do not need to worry about this company taking any legal action in US either.

3. No, you cannot be called an employee of the company.

4. Yes, you can take legal action against the company. Here is what you can do: 1. File a lawsuit for commiting fraud on you regarding promise employment and claim all expenses that you paid for bank guarantee etc. 2. Send a letter to USCIS (google it), explaining to them that this company is trying to charge the cost of h1b processing to the candidate. They will be in big trouble because what they are doing is completely illegal.

Instead of worrying about the company threatening you, you should threaten them that you will report them to USCIS unless they refund your expenses. USCIS is already cracking on these kind of companies.

chanlal (project leader) 05 August 2010

Thanks Hanumant.

This Agreement what I referred in my previous post only talks between employer and employee. So I was referred as an employee in the agreement I had signed.

Since I am & was not on their pay roles, How can they use this agreement to take a legal action?

chanlal (project leader) 05 August 2010

Thanks Hanumant.

This Agreement what I referred in my previous post only talks between employer and employee. And I was referred as an employee in the agreement that I had signed.

Since I am \ was not on their pay roles, How can they use this agreement to take a legal action?