Oracle sued for unlawful firing over lower Indian pay

Oracle is facing a lawsuit for allegedly firing a worker who objected to the company's employment practices, in which he was told to make a salary offer to an Indian employee that was lower than what it pays Caucasian employees.

A former senior sales manager last week filed suit in a San Francisco federal court against the U.S. software vendor, alleging his termination in December was in retaliation to his objection over what he described as a discriminatory hiring practice, reported Bloomberg.

Previously a senior regional manager for database sales, Ian Spandow said Oracle paid "Indian employees wages that are substantially lower than those paid to Caucasian employees". 

He said he had sought approval in September to transfer an employee in India, who had a successful seven-year track record with the company, to it office in California. Spandow requested for this employee to receive a salary equal to what Oracle paid its Caucasian workers, but was told to slash the offer by a significant amount of US$50,000 to US$60,000. When he raised his objections, his sales director said the pay offer would be "good money for an Indian", he filed in his civil rights complaint. 

He added that the company's human resources manager said it was fair to offer a lower salary. 

Spandow is from Ireland and had joined Oracle in 2005 on an L-1 visa. In his suit, he said his dismissal from the company was unlawful discrimination based on his national origin and was carried out as retaliation. He is seeking unspecified damages, according to the report.