JPMorgan Chase sued for allegedly retaliating against Plano H-1B employee

A former vice president of product management at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in Texas said the financial company unlawfully retaliated against him after he complained about racial and national origin discrimination, according to a federal lawsuit filed this month.

Prafull Khare, an Indian citizen, was employed in one of the company's administrative offices in Plano through H-1B visa sponsorship. He worked on cloud networking and security products starting in January 2023, according to the lawsuit.

The Specialty Occupation Visa Program allows foreign workers like Khare, with at least a bachelor's degree, to work in the United States for a few years, with the option to extend their visa as they move through the application process green card sponsored by an employee.

There have been more than 470,000 eligible registrations for H-1B visas for fiscal year 2025. There is an annual cap for high-demand specialty work visas and it operates on a lottery system. Of the eligible registrations, 120,000 were selected, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Once a sponsored employee is terminated or terminated, a 60-day grace period begins when workers must either find a new job that will sponsor them or obtain another immigration status that allows them to remain in the United States, or plan their departure. the country.

Rod Tanner, an attorney representing Khare, said his client was actively seeking other job opportunities and that he and his wife hoped to remain in the United States.

“Their future depends on it,” Tanner said. “Khare enjoys working and living in the United States and hopes to continue to do so. »

A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson declined to comment on the matter, which is generally the bank's practice regarding pending litigation, they said.

“There is never room for bias, prejudice or discrimination in our business,” a bank spokesperson said. “This is unacceptable and does not reflect our standards for how we treat our employees or serve our customers and communities.”

Khare alleged that the tasks bank executives gave him did not match the tasks outlined in his visa application, assigned him tasks with unrealistic completion dates, and misrepresented the work he completed.

Because the work assignments were outside the scope of his position in his immigration application, Khare expressed concern that this conflict would jeopardize his ability to work and remain in the United States, according to the lawsuit .

One of his supervisors allegedly assigned Khare to work on data product management and business intelligence activities, for which the U.S. Department of Labor requires pre-approval from foreign workers.

In a meeting with his superiors, Khare told executives that they “put him under a microscope, were constantly looking for flaws and misrepresented Khare's job performance,” according to legal documents. Khare said supervisors didn't like him because he was an Indian immigrant and they were trying to set him up to fail.

The executives denied conspiring against Khare, saying the problems were due to miscommunications, according to the lawsuit.

After Khare complained about what he saw as discrimination, the lawsuit alleges that JPMorgan retaliated by firing him in April, during the final days of his probationary period.

Khare earned an annual base salary of $180,000 and an annual bonus of $40,000. He is asking in part for back pay and damages, according to the complaint filed in court.