When I trained managers on hiring staff, I tried to emphasize having a minimum bar for the person who was offered a job, not just hiring the best candidate out of a mediocre field because "we need somebody right away". One of the executives I worked for phrased it differently; "Don't settle".
You can see more of what Franchitti claims as well as emails
https://casetext.com/case/franchitti-v-cognizant-tech-sols-corp-10
This business practice of Cognizant clearly obliged Franchitti to participate in its implementation. Another email clarifies the scheme:
As discussed, it would be beneficial for you (JC, Phil) to address the team to explain the strategy regarding visareadiness for potential U.S. opportunities. The message
to the team has been that the idea is to get associates visa-ready, so if a suitable opportunity arises in the U.S. we can move quickly.
(ECF No. 114 ¶41)(emphasis added).
In order to pursue this scheme, Cognizant drafted and submitted to the government “false jobs and job duties” in an “invitation letter.” In such a letter, a manager was “to sign invitation letters identifying jobs that do not exist, per the proactive process Cognizant announced in 2011.” (ECF No. 114 ¶45). In one such application, Franchitti acknowledges that he falsely attested:
As Assistant VP-Consulting, I have firsthand knowledge of the Cognizant project which Mr. Atmakur will be assigned to in the U.S. and attest that only an individual who has acquired advanced specialized knowledge through a combination of Cognizant overseas on-the-job and Cognizant Academy classroom training of Cognizant’s proprietary methodologies [and] processes, Cognizant’s GTO, and Cognizant’s vertical and horizontal concepts, would be able to perform the job duties for this project.
(ECF No. 114 ¶47).
According to Franchetti, this was an ongoing business practice undertaken for years to have visas available to include Indian citizens for travel purposes (B-1 visa) when most likely H-1B visas were necessary to perform the work assigned. (ECF No. 114 ¶¶52-57). As a result, the cost of visa application fees and labor costs incurred by Cognizant plummeted. (ECF No. 114 ¶¶58-66).