CNET Changes the Story on Sun

Date: Friday, February 21, 2003 8:45 PM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

CNN ran a story called "Former employee suffers setback in court" and
it was repeated on BusinessWeek.
I copied the story below earlier this afternoon. This evening I went
back to check the story and both the businessweek and CNET sites
changed their title to "Sun wins spat over H-1B law".

At first I couldn't believe something like this could happen so I
checked Google, and sure enough, as of 10:22 EST the Google Cache has
the old title because it hasn't re-indexed those two web pages.

Here is the result of the Google news search:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=%22Former+employee+suffers+setback+in+court%22&btnG=Search+News

Sorted by relevance Sort by date

Former employee suffers setback in court
BusinessWeek - 5 hours ago
A judge rules that a former Sun Microsystems employee failed to prove
that the company concealed information about its hiring practices. ...

Former employee suffers setback in court
CNET News.com - 5 hours ago
A former Sun Microsystems employee failed to prove the company
significantly
violated employment law, a judge ruled this week. Guy ...

This is an extraordinary change in the tone of the article. Calling Guy
Santiglia's case against Sun a "spat" gives a totally different
impression than a "setback in court".

So did Sun win a spat or did they pressure a couple of online websites
to change the tone of the article?

This is very smelly so I have decided to include the entire editorial
staff of CNET on this newsletter to get an explanation. It will be very
interesting to see what they have to say for themselves.

The CNET staff emailed can be seen on this page:
http://rss.com.com/2040-1096-0.html

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/cnet/stories/985580.htm

Friday, February 21, 2003

Former employee suffers setback in court

A judge rules that a former Sun Microsystems employee failed to prove
that the company concealed information about its hiring practices. But
that doesn't mean the case is over.

A former Sun Microsystems employee failed to prove the company
significantly violated employment law, a judge ruled this week.
Guy Santiglia, who was employed by Sun for four months before being
laid off in November 2001, charged that Sun retained H-1B workers when
he was cut, a practice that is not illegal in and of itself. Santiglia
claims Sun broke the law by concealing information about its hiring
practices and failing to allow him total access to the public record
data during his employment and after his termination.

Santiglia complained that the company did not provide proper access to
a document known as Labor Condition Application (LCA), which is related
to securing an H-1B visa. In that document, employers are required to
disclose certain details about H-1B workers' salaries and to verify
that the visa won't harm working conditions of similar U.S. employees.
Although it's not illegal to hire or retain H-1B workers in lieu of
American workers in most cases, the law outlines how information
regarding H-1B hiring and wages must be posted or otherwise made
public.

In a ruling released this week, Department of Labor Administrative Law
Judge Jennifer Gee said Sun committed minor violations of certain
employment laws by failing to post information about foreign workers at
the actual site where the employees worked. But she said such
violations were not "willful," meaning no fines will be assessed.

Gee ordered the company to update its employment practices by posting
information "in two conspicuous locations at the actual worksite the
H-1B worker(s) will be working at."

In addition, she wrote that Santiglia did not substantiate specific
claims that the employees he said were H-1B hires were indeed foreign
workers and that Sun failed to post information about those particular
workers. "He has offered no evidence whatsoever to support this alleged
violation," she said.

Santiglia, who worked for Sun as contractor before being hired full
time in July 2001, has filed several claims related to his termination.

The Labor Department already has investigated Santiglia's claims and
found there were no substantial violations in how Sun made use of the
visa program. But Santiglia appealed that decision and presented his
case before Gee at a hearing in December.

Other federal agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission and Department of Justice, have dismissed most claims
against Sun by Santiglia. Sun said one DOJ discrimination claim is
still lingering, an appeal of the department's decision not to pursue
prosecution.

A Sun Microsystems spokeswoman praised this week's ruling, adding that
Santiglia has been particularly aggressive in pursuing the claims.
"We're very pleased that the judge ruled in our favor on the appeal,"
Sun spokeswoman Diane Carlini said.

But it doesn't look like the case is over yet. Santiglia has 30 days to
appeal the ruling and said he plans to. "I don't agree with it," he
said. "I think the violations were willful and substantial."

The H-1B issue, long a flashpoint among some U.S.-based technology
workers, has become particularly heated in the down economy. Some tech
workers who have been unable to find jobs for months blame their plight
on companies they say are retaining or hiring foreign nationals instead
of American workers. H-1B visas allow skilled workers into the United
States for up to six years. Thus, many H-1B workers granted work during
the dot-com heyday are still allowed to work in the United States amid
the economic downturn.

Tech companies, which successfully lobbied Congress for a higher H-1B
cap during boom times, argue that the workers are hired to fill jobs
requiring specific skills. Sun said it did not take H-1B hiring status
into consideration when making job cuts and that it's illegal to do so
when hiring new employees.

By Lisa M. Bowman, Staff Writer, CNET News.com

----------- New Version

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/cnet/stories/985580.htm

Sun wins spat over H-1B law

A judge rules that a former Sun Microsystems employee failed to prove
that the company concealed information about its hiring practices. But
that doesn't mean the case is over.

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