Sun says US regulators look at layoff bias claim

SAN FRANCISCO: Computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. said on Monday the US

government was looking into claims by a former employee that Sun had

discriminated against US citizens in favor of foreign workers on temporary visas

when it cut jobs late last year.

Sun, which makes high-end computers that manage corporate and Internet

computers, had not considered visa status when making the roughly 3,900 job cuts

announced last year, spokeswoman Diane Carlini said.

The investigation by federal authorities followed a complaint by former Sun

engineer Guy Santiglia, who was laid off in November after four months on the

job, Carlini said. Santiglia alleged that Sun favored foreign workers holding

long-term H-1B visas to save money, she said.

Neither Santiglia nor the Department of Justice responded to requests for

comment. The Department of Labor declined to comment. The US Congress in 2000

temporarily raised the cap for H-1B visas, offered to specialized workers, to

195,000 for 2001-2003 in a controversial move hailed by Silicon Valley, which is

desperate for engineers.

Sun said less than five per cent of its employees were such visa holders,

recruited to fill crucial positions when US candidates were scarce. Sun last

year began layoffs of 9 per cent of its work force. "We feel we have

nothing to hide," said Carlini. The US Justice and Labor departments were

looking into the matter to determine whether to launch a formal hearing, as

required by law, she said.

Carlini said the visa program was effective for Sun in attracting crucial

technical talent but that foreign workers were costly to support. She declined

to provide a comparison for US and foreign workers' salaries. "The salary

is not based on employee status," she said. "The H-1Bs are generally

much more expensive than US nationals," she said. "It is an ongoing

trail of paperwork."

"We use the program to fill critical jobs. We are looking for skills to

stay competitive, and if we find that employee and they require an H-1B visa

program, then we are set up to take care of that." Santiglia had first made

the claim of unfair treatment in an e-mail to chief executive Scott McNealy and

had since often come to the Sun campus in Santa Clara, she said.

(C) Reuters Limited.