Employer Threatening Action..Is he correct?

[saral.gupta@gmail.com]

Hypothetically, I was working with a Consultant company on a H1B Visa, before I decided to come to India for a vacation. In India, I had to attend my H1-B Visa Stamping, where I got a 221G.

It had been over 4 months of my 221G, the employer was not paying, nor he showed any cooperation. He provided me with the documents though, but besides that, his behavior towards me was completely rudeness and attitude.

I got another US employer to do my H1B and got it stamped. Did not inform my previous employer that I will do a H1Transfer and nor did I mention that I joined a new company.

In US he calls and threatens about taking Immigration Action.

Is he justified in doing so?

Got a 221G solely because of the Multi vendor layer, no commitment from the employer to help, plus the verbal abuse by saying do no call us, email us..

What do you think, is the Employer eligible to take any Immigration action? Or any Legal Action

[JoeF]

Have you formally quit the job with the old employer?

[vvhk]

Hypothetically, I was working with a Consultant company on a H1B Visa, before I decided to come to India for a vacation. In India, I had to attend my H1-B Visa Stamping, where I got a 221G.

It had been over 4 months of my 221G, the employer was not paying, nor he showed any cooperation. He provided me with the documents though, but besides that, his behavior towards me was completely rudeness and attitude.

I got another US employer to do my H1B and got it stamped. Did not inform my previous employer that I will do a H1Transfer and nor did I mention that I joined a new company.

In US he calls and threatens about taking Immigration Action.

Is he justified in doing so?

Got a 221G solely because of the Multi vendor layer, no commitment from the employer to help, plus the verbal abuse by saying do no call us, email us..

What do you think, is the Employer eligible to take any Immigration action? Or any Legal Action

There is nothing the employer can do if you chose to leave him for a different employer. On the other hand, did you get paid fully throughout your employment with that employer? If not, get back to him and say you will file WH4 to get your past wages back and that the DOL will blacklist him. These crooks need to be taught a lesson.

[Attorney_23]

What "immigration action" is he threatening to take? If Employer B filed an H1B petition on your behalf, it was approved, and you received a visa from the consulate, Employer A is not ordinarily going to be in a position to revoke this petition.

[trruns_2282]

I am in a similar situation. I was in Singapore 6 months back. Company A filed for my H-1B. After 2 months, I got a much better offer from Company B and they also filed for my H-1B. I got my H-1B Stamped only from Company B and flew to US on Company B's H-1B Visa. I did not receive H-1B Papers from Company A and did not appear for any stamping for Company A's visa. I had signed an 1 Year employment agreement with Company A and paid $2500.00 fees for Training and Orientation that I never received from the Company A.

1. If Company A chase me for any liquidated damages to the tune of $5000 and above, am I liable to pay that? Please note that I never received any document, never attended any interviews or training from Company A.

2. Should I contact DOL and USCIS if Company A try to harass me?

[Transformer]

You started with, Hypothetically..., so is this really happened or you fear that it is going to happen?

[saral.gupta@gmail.com]

Have you formally quit the job with the old employer?

Yes did

[saral.gupta@gmail.com]

You started with, Hypothetically..., so is this really happened or you fear that it is going to happen?

It happed actually, I should not have used Hypothetically.

[saral.gupta@gmail.com]

What "immigration action" is he threatening to take? If Employer B filed an H1B petition on your behalf, it was approved, and you received a visa from the consulate, Employer A is not ordinarily going to be in a position to revoke this petition.

Thank you for your reply. The main threat my employer presented to me was that he will report to Immigration that you did not inform us before you came back to US and accepted the job with the new employer.

I worked for him for over 1 year and after 1 year I was told that I will get my H1-B fees back around $3300. Now he is saying that he will not give this money back, since in that you were out of the country for 4 months and did not make us any money. The original letter he had given me states no such thing, if you were out of country or not working we will not give your money back after one year.

Please advise, can I take legal action against him to get my money back?

[JoeF]

First off, you should never have paid anything for the H1. Stay away from any employer who wants money for an H1. As you found out, such employers tend to be shady.

You can report H1 violations of up to one year back to DOL.

Consider this a lesson learned. Never pay for a job. A job pays you, not the other way around.

[Attorney_6]

He can report to "immigration" that his employee returned to the U.S. with a new job. So what? While it is expected that a person tells there employer when they are quitting, there is no need to provide other information about one's location/new job.

The employer does not own the employee. The employee wasn't being paid, the employee couldn't get a visa to return to work for the company, and so the employee moved on to a new company.

H1s are not transferred, so there was no need to get permission to file through the new employer.

It isn't even clear what the old employer wants----the former employee doesn't hold H1 status with them. I would file the complaint with the DOL, and block the calls from the old employer or just let them go to voice mail....

[ketanbparekh]

He can't take legal action for changing the job, instead you can threaten him to say I will complain to DOL for taking h1b fees and not paying salary and for threats. Make sure you do all the communication in email (I bet he will not reply when you write saying h1b fees you took is illegal, not paid salary, threats etc....) that will be handy if required if you want to complain.

Relax, just chill. BTW do let us know the employer name so many can be saved from such people.

[saral.gupta@gmail.com]

He can report to "immigration" that his employee returned to the U.S. with a new job. So what? While it is expected that a person tells there employer when they are quitting, there is no need to provide other information about one's location/new job.

The employer does not own the employee. The employee wasn't being paid, the employee couldn't get a visa to return to work for the company, and so the employee moved on to a new company.

H1s are not transferred, so there was no need to get permission to file through the new employer.

It isn't even clear what the old employer wants----the former employee doesn't hold H1 status with them. I would file the complaint with the DOL, and block the calls from the old employer or just let them go to voice mail....

Thank you for your response. This gives me a lot of confidence and a positive knowledge about this matter. I will try to research this more and see what action I can take against such employer.

[saral.gupta@gmail.com]

He can't take legal action for changing the job, instead you can threaten him to say I will complain to DOL for taking h1b fees and not paying salary and for threats. Make sure you do all the communication in email (I bet he will not reply when you write saying h1b fees you took is illegal, not paid salary, threats etc....) that will be handy if required if you want to complain.

Relax, just chill. BTW do let us know the employer name so many can be saved from such people.

Thank you for your response. This gives me a lot of confidence and a positive knowledge about this matter. I will try to research this more and see what action I can take against such employer. I will like to quote the employer name, but am not sure if I should do it openly here, incase the seeks defamation if he does ever read this post. But if you send me an email at saral.kb.gupta@gmail.com I will definitely let you know the name.

[saral.gupta@gmail.com]

He can report to "immigration" that his employee returned to the U.S. with a new job. So what? While it is expected that a person tells there employer when they are quitting, there is no need to provide other information about one's location/new job.

The employer does not own the employee. The employee wasn't being paid, the employee couldn't get a visa to return to work for the company, and so the employee moved on to a new company.

H1s are not transferred, so there was no need to get permission to file through the new employer.

It isn't even clear what the old employer wants----the former employee doesn't hold H1 status with them. I would file the complaint with the DOL, and block the calls from the old employer or just let them go to voice mail....

Thank you for your response. This gives me a lot of confidence and a positive knowledge about this matter. I will try to research this more and see what action I can take against such employer.