Guy Santiglia was laid off from Sun Microsystems along with aproximately 4000 other Sun
employees in November of 2001. He knew that Sun employed a large number of H-1B visa
holders at that time and he thought that H-1B visas were issued to fill a shortage of qualified
American workers. Therefore, he thought that the H-1B visa holders at Sun would have been
hit hard by the lay offs because H-1B visas were supposedly issued only to fill a temporary
shortage of workers which no longer existed in 2001.
Guy noticed that many H-1B employees retained their jobs while American citizens got laid off
instead. He began to ask other former Sun employees if there was any pattern of retaining H-
1B visa holders over American Citizens at Sun. Sun employees from around the country
noticed that very few or none of the H-1B workers were laid off in their particular work
groups. Guy began to wonder if it was possible that Sun discriminated against American
workers in their employment practices.
Guy decided to notify the United States Department of Justice, to see if they thought any laws
were violated by Sun. Since then the Department of Justice has received feedback from other
former Sun employees who are also wondering why so few of the H-1B visa holders got laid
off while so many American Citizens lost their jobs. In February, 2003, a Department of Labor
administrative law judge ruled that Santiglia, who decided midway through proceedings to
represent himself, had failed to prove the company significantly violated employment law.
Walter Kruz's Story
Walter Kruz, 52, filed a lawsuit against Sun on March 17, 2003 in Santa Clara County
(California) Superior Court. He alleged that Sun engaged in age and race discrimination when
it fired him and others. He claimed that Sun unfairly favored younger, often lower-paid workers
of East Indian origin when deciding whom to lay off in 2001. Kruz, alleged Sun attempted to
conceal these acts which, he claims, violate California's Fair Employment and Housing Act and
its Unfair Competition Law. The lawsuit has class-action status.
As evidence, the lawsuit cites statements made this year by Sun´s cofounder, Vinod Khosla, on
the CBS television program “60 Minutes.” Khosla was quoted as saying that at Sun, Indians
are "favored over almost anybody else. If you are a WASP walking in for a job, you wouldn't
have as much pre-assigned credibility as you do if you're an engineer from [the Indian Institute
of Technology]."
"Ultimately, Sun's scheme was successful, allowing it to keep certain positions filled while
dramatically reducing its labor costs," the suit said. "But Sun's preference for young East
Indians and East Indian visa holders in its RIF (reduction in force) selection process
discriminated against workers of other races and national origins as well as against workers
over the age of 40."
Kruz’s attorney, James Caputo, estimates the class could encompass as many as 2,400 former
Sun workers. Caputo has filed a similar suit in federal court in Colorado on behalf of ex-Sun
workers who are not California residents.
Kruz was employed at Sun from May 2000 until late 2001 as a software engineering manager.
THE UNPLEASANT ODYSSEY OF A SUN EMPLOYEE
WHO WAS EXPOSED TO TOXIC MOLD
SUMMARY
It took nearly two years to diagnosis a very serious organ problem, which if not caused,
certainly was accelerated by my exposure to toxic mold in a Sun building. In addition to the
medical problems, the stress of forced ranking reviews, Sun's general chaos, and the company’
s denial of responsibility have taken a severe toll on my family and me. During this period, Sun
has tried to rate me a poor performer a few months after giving me a raise for my fine
performance, tried to lay me off, denied my short term and long term benefits despite two
independent medical reviews that agreed with my doctors findings and delayed testing the
building for nearly nine months, which in turn delayed my diagnosis and recovery. These and
other actions have damaged my health, finances and career.
DETAILS
1. For a period of about 1.5 years my office was in a building that ultimately was found to
contain elevated levels of toxic mold. After multiple people, including me, became ill Sun was
notified on multiple occasions about the problems. Nearly six months after first notice, Sun
finally took some limited action. No other action was taken until at least one other person and
I became so ill that it required us to go on Short Term disability.
2. Within days of my notifying my Manager that I was sick I was suddenly called and
“required" to come in for a meeting - even though I was running a high fever and was
very clear about the potential health risk to me and possibly others. I finally reluctantly agreed
to attend. It was clear that my attendance was only “required” in attempt to discredit my STD
claim. Following I was notified that I was being laid off. In fact I was notified of this as I was
waiting for test results that could have required my immediate hospitalization, information I had
relayed to my manager. Thankfully, I had become quite concerned by Sun’s actions in regards
to my illness and had contacted Sun’s (Short Term Disability) STD management company on
my own. Only after obtaining legal counsel was I reinstated and able to get my disability
benefits.
3. Due to Sun's delays, my health issues are permanent. If Sun had followed normal
procedures and acted promptly on my multiple requests, my prognosis would be better.
Multiple times Sun attempted to terminate me, while at the same time expressing concerns
about my health and claiming to be negotiating a settlement. Again the actions were directly
counter to Sun’s policies and previous agreements. Once again only after being contacted by
my legal counsel – Sun rescinded the termination.
4. Before going on disability I also had the pleasure of being part of Sun's draconian Forced
Ranking review system. This is the same approach - even more severe - that has resulted in
multi-million dollar settlements at Ford, Capital One and other companies. Sun continues to use
this approach, which targets “underperforming employees” under the guise of assisting
employees grow. I went from a top performer to an under performer in less than 3 months – I
am convinced - not because of my actual performance but because each group was “required”
to have a fixed percentage of poor performers and I was the most junior in my group. To this
day I have never received a copy of my "review." This system, which is supposed to be
assisting employees, in actuality appears to be used to target layoff candidates. Once labeled
a "3" you must go through a "performance improvement period"(PIP). You also no longer are
eligible for salary increases, bonuses, awards, training, etc.
Additionally, Sun encourages people to take their "Rapid Separation" package, if you don't
want to suffer the workplace equivalent of having a "Scarlet Letter." If you clear PIP - your
career is potentially permanently scarred. Although Sun denies this - you become a clear
target for a layoff or job demotion or a number of demoralizing and personally costly actions.
5. Sun utilizes numerous third parties for administrative functions. This results in finger pointing
and numerous mistakes. I have experienced delays in approvals for disability coverage
because of the lack of communication between different vendors and Sun, excess tax
withholding, inaccurate 401K accounting and numerous other mistakes. Correcting each of
these takes time and effort and usually requires figuring out the maze of people to finally get to
someone who is held accountable for getting answers or fixing the problem.
This is but a brief overview of the major things I have faced at Sun. Hopefully, this is helpful to
other current or former Sun employees. I look forward to hearing if others have experienced
similar problems.
My time with Sun has left my health, finances and career damaged. I may never be able to
recover. The majority of the items were avoidable, if Sun had responded to my issues in a
timely fashion, exercised a minimum of good business sense and merely followed its own
policies.
