A federal jury in Manhattan has awarded $8.4 million to a New York University professor who alleged he was fired for raising concerns about hiring practices at Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Jean-Claude Franchitti, a former employee of the New Jersey-based IT firm, had claimed he was pushed out in 2016 from a $350,000-a-year role after spending a decade at the company. According to court filings, he argued that his dismissal came after he questioned what he described as a pattern of favoring workers from India as part of a “cheap labor” model.
On Monday, the jury sided with Franchitti, awarding him $4.2 million in back pay for lost wages and an additional $4.2 million in punitive damages. However, it declined to grant compensation for future earnings or emotional distress.
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The case also revealed that there was little written record of Franchitti formally flagging his concerns. His legal team argued that this was intentional, saying he chose to raise issues verbally because he knew he was walking a “fine line” and hoped to address the matter diplomatically.
Following the verdict, his lawyer, Daniel Kotchen, said the outcome sends a broader signal.
“The jury sent a strong message that violating employees’ rights will not be tolerated,” he said, as per the X post.
Franchitti, who now teaches at NYU, expressed satisfaction with the ruling, according to his legal team, bringing to a close a closely watched case around workplace retaliation and hiring practices in the tech services industry.
Cognizant Technology Solutions has long been one of the biggest users of the H-1B visa program in the United States, underscoring the scale of its outsourcing-driven workforce model. Over the years, the company has hired tens of thousands of H-1B workers—more than 85,000 in total—consistently placing it among the top sponsors nationwide.
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In recent cycles, it has continued to file large volumes of visa applications each year, often alongside other major Indian IT firms, with most petitions getting approved. A 2026 report also noted that Cognizant was the largest H-1B employer in Texas between 2020 and 2025, bringing in over 50,000 workers during that period alone.
As the numbers highlight how central Cognizant remains to the H-1B ecosystem, frequently putting it at the center of debates around outsourcing, wages, and the role of foreign talent in the U.S. tech industry.
The Manhattan federal jury’s decision has drawn fresh attention after details of the case began circulating widely on X, bringing the outcome into sharper public focus. The verdict not only closes a long-running dispute but also adds to the broader conversation around workplace retaliation and hiring practices in the tech industry, especially at a time when companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions remain under scrutiny for their reliance on global talent pipelines.