US lawmakers propose change in H-1B visa laws to contest layoffs: Report

The media report said that while corporate executives have been outspoken in defending their labour practices, the American workers who lost jobs to global outsourcing companies have been largely silent. “Now some of the workers who were displaced are starting to speak out, despite severance agreements prohibiting them from criticising their former employers,” the report said. The report said leading members of the US Congress from both major parties have questioned the non-disparagement agreements, which are commonly used by corporations but can prohibit ousted workers from raising complaints about what they see as a misuse of temporary visas. Professor Hal Salzman, a labour force expert at Rutgers University, said in the past five years, through loopholes in the rules, tens of thousands of American workers have been replaced by foreigners on H-1B and other temporary visas.