Reporting Xcel Solutions Corp Violations to US Department of Labor

There's a way to file a complaint against Xcel Solutions Corp violations to H1B program, which may help on avoiding others being cheated. And the most important, we can file for a wage claim for time on bench and unpaid wages on being fired, in order to require payment according to offered salary.

The first thing, can be done with a WH-4 form, which according to the DOL site:

A person can fill out this form to report alleged H-1B violations by an employer. The form must be forwarded to the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) office which has jurisdiction over the physical location of the employer. For WHD locations, see the telephone directories under U.S. Government, Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division or http://www.dol.gov/esa/contacts/whd/america2.htm on the internet

For Xcel, the location with jurisdiction is the following:

Southern New Jersey District Office
US Dept. of Labor
ESA Wage & Hour Division
3131 Princeton Pike, Bldg. 5, Rm. 216
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Phone:
(609) 538-8310
1-866-4-USWAGE
(1-866-487-9243)

On the form, there's a checklist of violations to report. A nice game is to see how high can Xcel Solutions Corp score:

(a) Employer supplied incorrect or false information on the Labor Condition Application (LCA).

(b) Employer failed to pay nonimmigrant worker(s) the higher of the prevailing or actual wage.

(c) Employer failed to pay nonimmigrant worker(s) for time off due to a decision by the employer (e.g., for lack of work) or for time needed by the nonimmigrant worker(s) to acquire a license or permit.

(d) Employer made deductions from nonimmigrant worker’s wage (e.g., for nonimmigrant petition processing; for food and housing expenses when the nonimmigrant worker is traveling on the employer’s business; for tools and equipment necessary to perform employer’s work) that caused the wages paid to fall below the nonimmigrant worker’s required wage.

(e) Employer failed to provide fringe benefits to nonimmigrant worker(s) equivalent to those provided to U.S. worker(s) (e.g., cash bonuses, stock options, paid vacations and holidays, health benefits, insurance, retirement and saving plans.

(f) Employer does not afford nonimmigrant worker(s) working conditions (hour, shifts, and vacation periods) on the same basis as it does U.S. worker(s), or the employment of nonimmigrant worker(s) adversely affects the working conditions of
U.S. worker(s).

(g) Employer failed to comply with “no strike/lockout” requirement by: 1) placing or contracting out nonimmigrant worker(s) during the validity period of the LCA to any place of employment where there is a labor dispute; 2) failing to notify the DOL, within 3 working days of the occurrence, of such a labor dispute; or 3) using an LCA for nonimmigrant worker(s) to work at a site before the DOL has determined that a labor dispute has ended.

(h) Employer failed to provided employees or their collective bargaining representative, either by hard copy posting or electronically, notice of its intentions to hire nonimmigrant worker(s), or has failed to provide nonimmigrant worker(s) with a copy of the LCA.

(i) Employer required nonimmigrant worker(s) to pay all or any part of the scholarship and training fee (ACWIA fee).

(j) Employer imposed an illegal penalty (as opposed to liquidated damages permissible under state law) on nonimmigrant worker(s) for ceasing employment with the employer prior to a date agreed upon by the nonimmigrant worker and the employer.

(k) Employer retaliated or discriminated against an employee, former employee, or job applicant for disclosing information, filing a complaint, or cooperating in an investigation or proceeding about a violation of the applicable nonimmigrant program laws and regulations (i.e., whistleblower).

(l) Employer failed to maintain and make available for public examination the LCA and necessary documents at the employer’s principal place of business or worksite.

(m) H-1B dependent/willful violator employer laid off U.S. worker(s) and has replaced or seeks to replace U.S. worker(s) with H-1B worker(s) within 90 days before or after filing H-1B visa petitions.

(n) H-1B dependent/willful violator employer placed H-1B workers(s) at another employer’s worksite where U.S. workers have been laid off, and /or has failed to inquire of the second employer whether it has or intends to lay-off U.S. worker(s) and replace them with H-1B worker(s).

(o) H-1B dependent/willful violator employer failed to recruit U.S. worker(s) for jobs for which H-1B worker(s) are sought.

(p) H-1B dependent/willful violator employer failed to hire a U.S. worker who applied and was equally or better qualified for the job for which the H-1B worker was sought. Complaints alleging failure to offer employment to an equally or better qualified U.S. worker, or a misrepresentation regarding such offer(s) of employment, may be filed with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20530.

(q) Other:

About the wage claim, we use the mw-31a form, be prepared to provide sustaining information: the visa request, the offer and the visa stamps on your travel dates. The form and instructions can be obtained at this url. On the document we can require payment on the following. It's important to notice that we are entitled to be paid full offered salary from day 1 at Xcel, not the U$30.00 per-diem.

• unpaid wages
• vacation, sick or holiday
• non-payment of last paycheck
• overtime
• commission, severance or bonus pay
• improperly classified as an independent contractor (while employed in the construction industry)
• minimum wage
• shortages or deductions
• Other (please explain below)

I originally sent the form to the provided e-mail, wage.hour (a) dol.state.nj.us, and got the following answer, as it involved a work visa:

Since your claim involved a work visa, our agency has forwarded your claim to the appropriate Department, the United States Department of Labor - ESA Wage and Hour. You may contact that department by telephone at 609.538.8310.

Regards,
New Jersey Division of Wage and Hour Compliance

The phone happens to be the same for the office of the DOL with jurisdiction over Xcel location.

Best of luck with your filings. Get what you really deserve, not the bullshit that actually happened at Xcel Solutions Corp with Mr. Jit Goel

Point of view of an Ex-Recruiter at Xcel

As an example of how those with the same reasoning of the Xcel Business Model, here's a comment on a blog that tried to find out how was it to work at Xcel. This same guy, Jorge Vazquez, appears on many other sites trying to justify his actions. At least we have to give him credit on doing it on his own name. Interesting the thing about the benching being in a contract, when that it's illegal and should be reported on a WH-4 to the Department of Labor (DOL) as an alleged violation:

(c) Employer failed to pay nonimmigrant worker(s) for time off due to a decision by the employer (e.g., for lack of work) or for time needed by the nonimmigrant worker(s) to acquire a license or permit.

However, here's the comment, You can get more info on their thinking doing a search on google.

In a couple of months it will be 2 YEARS since I don’t have anything to do with Xcel. But here you are anonymously and cowardly attacking me. During this very long period of time, why haven’t you been able to move on? How do you even find the time for this? Is it because you are un-employed? Is that really Xcel’s fault? The only remorse I could ever have from the time I worked there is not telling you from the beginning that YOU SUCK! And that it’s obvious that you lack the character, the experience, the skills and the brains to make it as a foreign IT consultant in the US.

The $30 USD per Diem while on bench was always CLEARLY stated on the initial contracts sent to candidates while they were still working in their own countries. Personally, I never asked anybody to leave their jobs for the POSSIBILITY of joining Xcel.

Now, let’s analyze your particular case:
1. If it took months (as you say) for Xcel to actually bring you to the US, this was due in part to other dumbass like you unable to get a project and occupying space in the same guest house where you had to be kicked out. But also, I’m sure it was mainly due to the fact that you weren’t a good candidate. Anyone in that situation, but with a steady career, other opportunities and a little more intelligence would have moved on. But that wasn’t your case, and Xcel was obligated to bring you due to the contract that you had already signed (yes, that same contract that you didn’t read and fully understand, where it was stipulated that you would get the $30/day while on bench).

2. If you had to modify and exaggerate your resume it’s because it was weak and not marketable. Still, after MONTHS of being on bench and not producing anything (and occupying space and becoming a bottle neck) somebody was able to get you in a project. Most likely with little or no profit for the company, but with the plan of not loosing anymore money and naively hoping that you could eventually turn some revenue.

3. Even if I give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you weren’t fired from that project due to your own poor performance, I still don’t get your retarded reasoning where the “fair” thing to do was to pay for your furniture.

More testimonies on complaints board

It's interesting how many places now are reflecting information on how Xcel Solutions Corp operates. Not only those who were brought as consultants but also those that at a given moment were hired as recruiters, those who really cared at decided not to go on with the farce, still some have remained being supportive of Xcel ways, they only wanted their commission, no matter if they knew what would happen, they would also lie to candidates. However, on complaints board, there's a good testimony from a recruiter and some comments from those affected.

By the way, should anybody know the guy who posted, or if you ever read this, Steven Siegler would like to get in touch with You, as your information would be helpful on the current lawsuit of 6 ex-employees.

Fighting back the abuse

In top of all the complaints against Xcel Solutions Corp, Jit and Renu Goel, if You do have the chance to leave the company, they'll sue You for Damages and Expenses. As we are out of our country, many fell for it and because of lack of knowledge and not wanting to go trough a lawsuit, usually we get a last stab on paying them up to $20,000.00 dollars. WTF!

Fortunately, 6 former employees are fighting back and have many chances on winning, according to what Mr. Steven Siegler has been writing on his blog. Now we now we stand a chance, and that Mr. Jit/Jiten/Jitendra should know better when trying to keep messing with people's lives.

And for those who wanted to confirm facts, and always talk of child's complain or fake allegations, what's more real than a lawsuit, with names and facts? Are you hearing, Mr. Jorge Vazquez? Would you testify, defend Xcel? Defend Yourself on being part of what has happened there?

H1-B Employees Strike Back Against Xcel Solutions Corp.

Information on Xcel Solutions Corp