Foreigners working in the United States who claim they were cheated out of their tax refunds have won the right to have their employment dispute heard in American courts, defeating efforts by India’s largest conglomerate to force arbitration overseas.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 31 denied a bid by Tata America International Corp. to compel arbitration and dismiss the class action that alleges Tata’s non-citizen U.S. employees are required to sign over their federal and state tax refund checks to the company. Tata America and its parent corporations, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Tata Sons Ltd., have argued that the dispute should be arbitrated in India rather than here, claiming the plaintiffs had entered into written agreements to arbitrate disputes in Mumbai.
