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Many underpaid H-1B workers make assumptions about their situation that (while understandable)  are incorrect.
Below are several assumptions we have heard from H-1B employees that are wrong.  If you have been making the assumptions below, you may be stopping yourself from improving your situation.

Tags: Benching, H-1, H-1B, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Fraud, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B Pay, H-1B salary, H-1B Transfer, H-1B Wages, H-1B Worker's Wrong Assumptions

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If you are an H-1B worker who has been benched for months and months, despite your best efforts to find a project, you may find yourself  communicating less and less with your H-1B employer.  Maybe you’ve even stopped contact altogether.
Please know you should not reduce communications with your H-1B employer.
You should [...]

Tags: Benched H-1B, Benching, H-1, H-1B, H-1B Availability for Work, H-1B Contacts With Employer, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B Rights, H-1B Wages, H1B

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If you’re an H-1B worker who has been benched or otherwise underpaid wages, and you’re interested in trying to address your problems, you should consider acting promptly.  Promptly educate yourself about the legal options you have, and promptly take action.  If you take take the right actions at the wrong time (i.e. after [...]

Tags: Benching, Department of Labor, H-1B, H-1B - DOL Complaint, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B Transfer, H-1B Wages, Prompt Action - H-1B, USCIS

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If you complained to your H-1B employer because they committed wrongs– such as making you pay H-1B filing fees and benching you without pay– you may find the employer has compounded the problem by threatening or harassing you because of your complaint.
The law prohibits an employer from retaliating against you for [...]

Tags: H-1B, H-1B Department of Labor Complaint, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Harassment, H-1B Retaliation, H-1B Wages

If you are thinking about all your problems with your H-1B employer, and want to tell the world- or, tell Facebook, listservs, and/or Desi message boards- you should think twice and count to ten before posting.
It is understandable to feel highly frustrated by an H-1B employer who has benched you, underpaid your wages, unlawfully required [...]

Tags: Benching, Complaint, H-1B, H-1B Defamation, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Fraud, H-1B Message Boards, H-1B Retaliation, H-1B Wages, Retaliation

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Our law offices commonly receive phone calls from H-1B workers who: (1) have unpaid wages; (2) filed a Department of Labor (DOL) wage complaint; (3) and THEN called our law offices.  At this point, they often ask us whether we can provide legal advice for their DOL matter, or whether they can pursue [...]

Tags: Benching, DOL, DOL Complaint, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B Settlement, H-1B Unpaid Wages, H-1B Wages, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, RICO, Things for H-1B Worker to Consider Before DOL Complaint, United States Department of Labor, WH4 Complaint

On various occasions we have received calls from H-1B workers who became aware of various legal rights (e.g. right to file a wage complaint with Department of Labor) from information they found on the internet (e.g. DOL’s website pages about H-1B wage rights).
While it is a great thing to educate yourself, please do not make the mistake [...]

Tags: Benching, Complaint, Department of Labor, DOL, H-1B Complaint - DOL, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B Pay, H-1B Settlement, H-1B Transfer, H-1B Wages, Prevailing Wage

Given the poor shape of the U.S. economy, fraudulent H-1B employers are likely to adopt new tricks, or to increase the use of old ones, with benched H-1B workers.
If you have been benched, your employer may approach you and ask you to sign a document that falsely states that you took voluntary leave (e.g. vacation [...]

Tags: Benching, Documentation H-1B, False Leave Forms H-1B, False Vacation Forms H-1B, falsification, H-1B Benching, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B unlawful requests, H-1B Wages

If you are an H-1B employee, and your employer is terminating your job and has offered you a severance agreement, you should consider the following things. (Please note this post does not provide legal advice- if you want legal advice, you should contact an attorney and discuss your specific severance agreement and circumstances).

Tags: Benching, H-1, H-1B, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Fraud, H-1B Layoff, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B Pay, H-1B Rights, H-1B salary, H-1B Severance, H-1B Transfer, H-1B Wages, H1, H1B, Prevailing Wage

Does your H-1B employer:

Rip you off (e.g. make you pay H-1B filing fees, underpay your wages, etc.)?
Subject you to abuse (e.g. threaten you with job termination or deportation)?
Want you to do things that you think are unethical?

If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions, then you may well have a legal claim [...]

Tags: H-1, H-1B, H-1B Employee Rights, H-1B Fraud, H-1B Legal Rights, H-1B Pay, H-1B Rights, H-1B salary, H-1B Transfer, H-1B Wages, H1, H1B, Prevailing Wage