A former Infosys Ltd. employee filed a lawsuit late last week in New Jersey federal court alleging that he was pressured to resign from the company and that the company continues to retaliate against him by refusing to rehire him. This is the second lawsuit he has filed against Infosys. He filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2011, claiming that his supervisors had retaliated against him after he raised concerns that Infosys was violating immigration laws, triggering a federal investigation into Infosys’s conduct which resulted in a $34 million settlement with federal prosecutors in October 2013 to settle “allegations of systemic visa fraud and abuse of immigration processes.” His earlier lawsuit was dismissed on state-law grounds in 2012.

The new case has been brought under the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower protections, which allow for suit against both the company and the people who run it. The former Infosys executive resides in New Jersey, hence the filing in that state.

Infosys denies the charges of retaliation and says the new case is without legal merit.

This continues to highlight the challenges of a third-party outsourcing model reliant upon foreign workers. It also serves as a reminder to all employers the need to comply with all U.S. immigration laws and that violations of such laws are frequently exposed by disgruntled U.S. employees. Employers should assess their third-party vendor relationships and ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to avoid charges of joint employer liability.